Bersih said today that it has yet to accept the Election Commission's invitation to become accredited election observers for the Sungai Kandis by-election on Aug 4.
While it welcomed the invite, the electoral reforms group's executive director Yap Swee Seng said it cannot accept the offer as yet because the EC is only allowing it to send four observers.
"We think this is not enough for us to conduct a thorough observation.
"The EC needs to give more space to civil society organisations to decide how many observers they want to send so they can provide a more thorough observation.
"They should not limit the number of observers from civil society organisations," Yap said during a press conference at its Petaling Jaya office.
Yap said that the group has sent a request to the EC to send more observers for the by-election, triggered following the death of incumbent assemblyperson Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei.
The EC has been asked to inform the group of the terms of reference for the observation – including observers’ rights, functions and access – which, he added, should be made public.
Yap also put forth several recommendations for the by-election, such as an extended campaign period of 14 days, and a weekend polling date.
Observation to go ahead
According to Bersih acting chairperson Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari (photo), the Sungai Kandis by-election is significant because it is the first under the new Pakatan Harapan government.
"We demand high standards to be set by the EC, the MACC, candidates, political parties and Harapan federal and state governments in the Sungai Kandis by-election.
"We call on all quarters to make sure that the Sungai Kandis by-election will be conducted in a clean and fair manner and set the benchmark for future elections," he said.
The invitation from the EC notwithstanding, Bersih stated they will launch their own election observation mission for the by-election to monitor the conduct of all parties from July 21 to Aug 4.
The purpose of this mission, Shahrul said, is to see if the by-election is run in accordance with election laws and international electoral standards.
Bersih also called on members of the public with information on electoral fraud and misconduct to send a report to the group’s hotlines 03-79314444 or 017-2537917, or through WhatsApp at 017-2537923. -Mkini
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