Polls watchdogs find 60 misconducts, irregularities in S'wak election

A total of 60 electoral irregularities and misconducts were allegedly committed by political parties and the Election Commission (EC)  during the recent Sarawak election. 

This is according to a report by the electoral reform watchdog Bersih and citizen-driven Rise of Social Efforts (Rose), which claimed 37 out of the 60 misconducts and irregularities were committed by state ruling coalition GPS, while one was committed by Pakatan Harapan and four by independent candidates.

The groups also noted EC and other quarters had committed 16 misconducts and irregularities. They are issues related to the electoral roll and polling day (12 cases), misconduct on polling day (four cases) and officials taking sides (three cases).

“Among the many cases of misconduct that were recorded, the one highlighted by the observers was that the caretaker chief minister, Abang Johari Openg, and also the GPS candidate in Gedong seat, announced several projects around the Gedong DUN area during the campaign,” read Bersih and Rose in a joint statement. 

This included an announcement on upgrading Gedong to a district and infrastructure projects. 

“The Sarawak Public Communications Unit (UKAS) which is under the Chief Minister's Office was used for campaigning purposes for the interim government political parties in the media including social media. Acts like these have misused state government resources to campaign,” they said. 

The groups also found six electoral offences, among others, included providing food supplies to voters, as done by independent candidate Gemong Batu in Engkilili seat and the organisation of a coffee session with young people by PSB Batu Lintang candidate See Chee How where food and drinks were paid by him. 

They also observed that lucky draws were given at the event attended by the GPS candidate for Asajaya, Abdul Karim Hamzah.

These acts may constitute an election offence under Section 8 of the Election Offences Act, they added. 

They also alleged the occurrence of undue influence as PBB deputy president Awang Tengah Ali Hasan told voters that there would be no allocation in Opar if the GPS candidate lost in the state poll. 

“Apart from that, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob also inappropriately said that development projects are difficult to implement if the state and federal governments have different directions, meaning from a different (political) divide,” they said. 

Apart from monitoring the candidate online since the statewide emergency was lifted, Bersih and Rose also mobilised election observers and volunteers to monitor 21 out of 82 constituencies on the ground between Dec 6 and 18, 2021.

“The EC’s election management is seen as going backwards. Apart from failing to offer alternatives to voters who live outside of the state, particularly in West Malaysia and Sabah, the EC was late in announcing that registration for postal voting for overseas voters was open and it was only on Nov 16 last year that they had announced it, while the registration date for postal voters started from November 8.

“In addition, the EC also failed to announce that Sarawak voters who reside permanently in Singapore, Brunei, southern Thailand and Kalimantan were now eligible and can register as postal voters. This resulted in some overseas voters not having enough time to register themselves,” they said. 

“The EC’s delay in announcing the Sarawak election SOP just a day before the nomination day resulted in the parties and candidates not having enough time to prepare to comply with the SOP set,” they said. 

“The EC failed to ensure equal media access for candidates and parties. This is different from the previous Malacca polls where the contesting parties had access to media such as Melaka FM radio station,” they said. - Mkini