Police report lodged against EC

By Arfa'eza A Aziz

Malaysiakini

2006-05-17 | An independent election watchdog today filed a police report against the Election Commission (EC) on the confusion over the date of certification for the electoral roll to be used in the May 20 Sarawak state elections.

Malaysia For Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) Abdul Malek Hussein lodged the report with the Kuching central police station.

He claimed that there were two contradictory validation dates for the electoral roll.

He alleged that Regulation 9 of the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002 - which states that the EC 'shall determine the certified electoral roll prior to the dissolution of Parliament or State Legislative Assembly to be used in the general election' - may have been breached.

"The law clearly states that there must be only one certified electoral roll to be used for nomination day and polling day. When you have two different dates, it gives the impression that there are two rolls. The situation demands a thorough investigation," said Malek when met.

Public interest issue

In the police report, which was made available to the media, Malek alleged that since the dissolution of the state assembly, the EC had distributed an electoral roll signed by the commission's chief registrar Kamaruzaman Mohd Nor and validated on March 7, 2006.

That roll was used by political parties for the purpose of nominating election candidates and Mafrel had purchased a copy for its monitoring activities.

Malek claimed that confusion arose on May 13, 2006, when the EC issued a press statement that the electoral roll validated on March 16, 2006 will be used for polling day.

However, he said Mafrel had not sought an explanation from the EC regarding this matter.

"We are lodging this report because this is a matter of public interest. I think it's better we let the police investigate the matter," he said.

Reference Links

• Malaysiakini