Limit spending of parties during elections, says Dr M

 

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there was no limit to the amount a party could spend in an election.

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has called for a limit on the expenditure of political parties during elections to curb corruption and bribery.

He said although the spending for individual candidates was capped at RM200,000 during the campaign period, there was no limit to the amount a party could spend in an election.

“What is happening now is that the bribes and the money spent on campaigning (by parties) is limitless.

“It has been proven that a prime minister had stolen a huge amount of money so as to give big bribes and conduct massive costly campaigns.

“Such are the amounts spent that parties which had no stolen money or are against bribery stand no chance of winning at all,” he said on Twitter.

Mahathir said there was a need to question the source of party funds and investigations should be conducted if a candidate or party indulged in lavish spending.

He claimed that the general election in November was the “most corrupt of all elections held in Malaysia”.

“Almost every single candidate who won did so because he had offered big bribes and his party had spent hundreds of millions on campaigning.”

Mahathir lost his Langkawi seat in the recent general election in only his second parliamentary election defeat. In 1969, he was defeated by Yusof Rawa of PAS in the Kota Setar constituency.

He was among 369 candidates who lost their deposits in the general election. - FMT