PKR POLLS | A straw poll of PKR members at the party’s annual national congress suggests that the electronic voting (e-voting) system used in the party election this year has much room for improvement.
All seven members Malaysiakini spoke to complained about the system, pointing out problems with integrity as well as viability, especially among older members and in rural areas.
PKR Batu Sapi member Arif Remigius said that many members in his division did not understand how e-voting worked and were confused when polling day came.
“And the transparency of the system was not seen, the voting system was not managed well.
“[...] Outsiders and non-party members could come into the voting centre and touch the tablets, the security was so loose,” he claimed when met on the sidelines of the PKR Youth congress at the Ideal Convention Centre in Shah Alam this morning.
Arif, who lost his bid to become deputy division chief, criticised the party’s election committee (JPP) for allegedly failing to enforce stricter rules and be fair to all contenders.
Upset by this, he had taken the matter to the police.
“Many mistakes stemmed from the JPP. I made a police report at the Sandakan district police headquarters because I was dissatisfied with the JPP.
“They appear to be berat sebelah (biased) towards one team (in the party). I did not contest as part of any team, I contested in my own capacity,” he added.
While PKR Wanita Hulu Selangor member Hayati Hasan recognised the theoretical benefits of e-voting, her experience volunteering in divisions across the country showed shortcomings in how it was conducted.
Often, she said, there had not been enough time for all members to finish voting as technical issues would crop up.
“I was in Pensiangan, Keningau, Malacca, Kedah, Perak and Selangor; most of them had problems.
“One voter had to attempt four times (before they managed to vote) because their barcode could not be registered.
“[...] There was a lot of confusion and many older folks did not understand how to vote. They said if this (e-voting) was used again they would not come out to vote, it was very problematic,” Hayati explained.
PKR Bandar Tun Razak member V Yogeswary told Malaysiakini that she was largely satisfied with e-voting, but suggested more language options be made available if the system were used again.
“Many of our members are Tamil-speaking people, illiterate and not very good in English or Malay.
“There was a language barrier as there were no Tamil-speaking people to help them when voting,” Yogeswary said.
Going forward, PKR Pekan division chief Jefri Jaafar believed that the JPP needed to prepare way ahead of time if e-voting were to be used again.
“The biggest weaknesses about e-voting were the lack of internet access (in some areas) and suspicion towards the system.
“This can be addressed by providing more information and talks about how e-voting is done [...] they need to clearly explain this, especially to the grassroots,” he toldMalaysiakini.
Money politics: Heed Umno's experience
This year marked the first time since its inception that PKR conducted its internal polls as a party in the federal government.
The polls had been marred by several incidents of technical errors relating to the e-voting system, most notably in Julau where an alleged cyber attack forced the election committee to withhold results.
Re-elections have also had to be held in Kedah, Malacca, and parts of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Sabah due to technical problems.
There have also been several allegations of vote-buying during the polls.
When asked if they had witnessed money politics or vote-buying in the election, most of those polled said they had not but were aware it occurred.
Jefri said this could destroy the party if left unchecked.
“Umno is the best example, they lost power not because they were disorganised but because of these elements.
“In PKR we must expose all these things in order to fix them,” he said, adding that he believed that the state of money politics was “under control” within the party.
Similarly, PKR Tambun Youth chief Zaim Sidqi said such practices needed to be nipped in the bud.
“There is worry that members will use their positions to influence party elections. If we do not stop this now, it will become worse. We can stop it if we realise it early on,” he told Malaysiakini.
This weekend sees the almost two-months-long party elections coming to a close with PKR's new leadership for the next three years (2018-2021) being announced on Sunday night. - Mkini
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