Stop bribing voters, abusing govt machinery, Bersih says

 

Bersih today urged all candidates running in the 15th general election (GE15) to conduct clean and fair campaign activities, and avoid bribing voters through programmes and initiatives.

In a statement, the electoral reform group also called ministers and deputy ministers contesting in the election not to abuse government machinery for their campaign purposes.

“Candidates, political parties, campaign machinery, and all involved in the election, including caretaker ministers, must do their campaign in a clean manner and abide by the laws, especially the Election Offences Act.

“From Bersih’s observation, many political parties and candidates were found to have engaged in campaign activities which can be deemed as electoral offences and are not in line with the standard ethics for a fair election campaign,” it said.

According to the group, they found several political parties and candidates organised programmes where they offered free engine oil change services for motorcyclists.

This can be a violation of Section 10 of the Election Offences Act on bribery, Bersih said.

There was a party candidate in Penang who launched a programme subsidising voters to travel home to cast their votes, it said, adding that this violates both Section 10 and Section 20 of the same act.

Bersih said they also found a Deepavali event to be held on Saturday (Nov 12) by a candidate in Klang, Selangor, was advertised to include a lucky draw.

A carnival planned for Muar, Johor listed several activities including a lucky draw, free hair cuts, free oil change services, and cash prizes for several competitions, it added.

“These programmes can be a violation of Section 10 of the Election Offences Act,” it stressed.

Abuse of govt assets

On abuse of government assets, the group reminded ministers in the caretaker government to adopt best practices for clean and fair elections.

This is because Malaysia still does not have clear regulations against the misuse of government assets for campaigning, Bersih said.

As such, caretaker government officials were advised to follow best practices laid out by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Article 11 of the Bangkok Declaration.

They stipulate a separation of government and political parties and the use of government resources during an election campaign. - Mkini