Sources: PKR at crossroads after forensic audit finds fraud in polls

 

The PKR central leadership council (MPP) is currently at a crossroads ahead of the party’s national congress scheduled for July 15.

This is after the company which conducted a forensic audit found massive fraud in the party’s election held in May.

The matter was confirmed by various sources within the party to Malaysiakini.

They said four key issues were presented by the forensic audit experts to the MPP in two separate meetings on June 9 and June 20 respectively.

“The use of illegal tabs, voting after polling time has expired, multiple votes using the same MyKad, and voting en masse at the same time were among the four factors inferred as ‘digital discrepancies’ by the company.

“The MPP is now at a crossroads. They need to make a decision on the party's next steps based on the findings through this forensic audit," a source who attended the two meetings told Malaysiakini.

For the record, the MPP previously agreed with the PKR central election committee's (CEC) proposal on the need to conduct a forensic audit on the party's unofficial election results.

The PKR election this time was held in a hybrid manner, a combination of online voting and physical voting. The CEC received more than 1,800 complaints following the announcement of the unofficial decision on May 30, many involving allegations of manipulation, especially during physical voting.

Following that, the CEC appointed Alliance IFA Sdn Bhd, a digital audit specialist company to conduct forensic audits on 4,000 tabs used for physical selection.

Three options for PKR

Meanwhile, the source said the MPP now had three options regarding the discovery of massive fraud in party elections.

"The first, setting aside the findings of forensic audits and maintaining unofficial results. This is after taking into account that the general election will be held in the near future.

“Second, cancel the election results and retain the 2018 term committee members before holding re-election after the GE. Some people think that the second option is apt, which is to cancel the decision in line with the party's stand that justice for all and transparency in all matters.

“Thirdly, reject all votes identified through fraud and announce the final result only on the basis of ‘clean votes’.

“MPP members are of the view that the third option is the safest for all parties,” the source said.

However, the source said the third option may be subject to the intervention of the Department of Registration of Societies (ROS).

“For example, in 2013, the ROS instructed the DAP to hold re-election for the CEC after finding that some branches did not exist to vote in the polls.

“Although the number of votes from the non-existent branch was very small, and did not change the CEC election results, the ROS insisted on holding re-election.

“For the PKR election this time, the gap in voter fraud is quite high. More importantly, there are 40 reports to the ROS regarding the PKR election this time.

“So, we need to see what the MPP decides, which usually will be during a special meeting before the national congress,” the source said.

Meanwhile, another top party source told Malaysiakini that the CEC will announce the final results of the party's election starting today.

“Yesterday, the audit company briefed the CEC and it fully accepted the findings and results of the forensic audit.

“The CEC will display the final results on the website.

“The final decision is based on a ‘clean’ vote only,” the source added. - Mkini