Prove residents asked for change in voting address, EC told

Klang MP Charles Santiago believes there was fraud in the transfer of the voting addresses.

Santiago says he believes fraud could be involved in the transfer of the voting addresses.

SHAH ALAM: Klang MP Charles Santiago has demanded that the Election Commission (EC) show letters to prove several Klang residents asked to have their voting addresses transferred to Kamunting, Perak.

Santiago brought two lawyers and six of the affected residents to the EC’s office in Shah Alam today, including one resident who claims he has never registered to vote.

“I believe there’s fraud so we are requesting the EC to prove the residents requested to change their voting address as well as when the transfer was done,” he said.

He said so far, he had heard of 10 cases involving Klang residents whose voting addresses were transferred to Kamunting.

“Of the 10, two have never registered to vote at all.”

Among the six who showed up today were a woman, her husband, her daughter and her son-in-law.

(Left to right) Klang MP Charles Santiago with lawyers Tan Tai Hwa and John Fam, and Pandan PKR chief Mohamed Ishak Zainuddin.

Pandan PKR chief Mohamed Ishak Zainuddin, who was also there, claimed he had heard of five or six similar cases, including one voter whose voting address was transferred from Sabah to Pahang.

“If there’s so many such cases then something fishy is definitely going on,” he said.

Following a short discussion with EC officers, Santiago said they were told the process to change the addresses would take three months.

“This is too long because the election is in three weeks.”

The two lawyers present were John Fam and Tan Tai Hwa.

According to Fam, the EC will be given until Friday to either produce the change-of-address documents or re-register the voters in Klang, otherwise he will apply to the court for an injunction against the agency.

“According to Section 9A of the Election Act, once the electoral roll has been gazetted, it cannot be challenged but the EC owes a duty to the voters as this concerns their constitutional right.”

In the cases of the two who never registered to vote, Santiago and the lawyers wanted their names removed from the electoral roll. - FMT