Opposition Parties Take Election Commission Woes to the People. Will They Succeed?

Opposition parties DAP, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and PAS and 25 non-governmental organisations are to go on a nationwide drive to create awareness among voters on the need to restructure the Election Commission (EC).

This follows yesterday's decision by PAS and Keadilan to boycott the Batu Talam by-election, scheduled for Jan 28, on grounds of alleged discrepancies in the electoral roll for the constituency.

They also alleged the election process was prejudiced and one-sided and criticised EC chairman Tan Sri Ab Rashid Ab Rahman for being inconsistent and pro-Barisan Nasional (BN).

"Based on these facts, we are confident the by-election will see a repeat of deviation which will damage the sanctity of a democratic process," said a statement issued in a press conference by the two parties today.

The parties said Ab Rashid's statement that the Nov 30, 2006, electoral roll of 10,524 (down from the previous list of 10,748 after deceased voters were deleted) raised doubts. "The clean-up process was not transparent as it was done unilaterally by the EC without the participation of political parties," the statement added.

In the press conference, jointly chaired by PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa and Keadilan vice-president Azmin Ali, the parties said they would go on the ground to expose the incompetence of the EC and the electoral process.

Azmin said they had distributed 152 copies of a report titled Sham Democracy: A Report on Malaysian Elections, published by Keadilan recently, to foreign embassies here.

Nasharudin dismissed speculation his party was afraid to contest in the by-election, saying: "These are non-existent issues and we expect the BN and media to broadcast that PAS is afraid to contest when in fact, we are not. "The boycott is a strong signal that we're serious about the need for EC reform. We are preparing ourselves for a bigger battle - the general elections - and until the date is set, we continue exposing the deviation, incompetence of the system."

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng Lim told theSun in a telephone interview that the EC could not even provide valid and convincing reasons for the discrepancies in the electoral roll for Batu Talam. "I was told there were only two houses resided by Indians in Batu Talam. But there are more than 300 registered Indian voters. The EC could explain that," he added.

Lim said for free and fair elections to be conducted, the EC must ensure that:

* there is no politics of fear, like the blatant use of May 13 to scare voters;
* there is no money politics;
* there is a free media; and
* there are no phantom voters.

Asked whether the DAP would have done the same (boycott the by-election), Lim said: "If the seat was traditionally contested by the DAP, we will contest. As far as Batu Talam is concerned, we have to keep to our word that we have no interest in the seat. "It is a seat traditionally left to PAS."

However, Lim said he respected Keadilan and PAS' decision to boycott the by-election over electoral process issues. (TheSun)
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