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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Poll
watchdog finds more flaws
May
10,
An
independent election watchdog has found more flaws in the electoral roll for
the
Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) discovered that
there were only two occupants in one Miri address where 27 eligible voters had
been registered.
None of the voters in the list were known to the people there, said Bujang.
Furthermore, he said there were least six other addresses where the original
houses no longer existed.
“Instead shop-lots stand in their place and the list of voters registered to
the addresses were not known to the people there,” he added.
Apart from this, Mafrel was also stumped by addresses that were impossible to
locate in areas such as Krokop (10 cases) and Kuala Baram (4 cases).
“This does not include the fact that 42 percent of the eligible voters in the
state constituencies of Piasau, Senadin and Pujut are without addresses,” said
Bujang.
Is there political will?
Based on these findings, he said it was obvious that the Election
Commission (EC) has not done much to update the electoral roll in these areas.
“This points to the fact that there is still a lot to be done by the EC in
order to achieve a free and fair election. Is there a political will to make
this change?” he asked.
Mafrel is working together with two local non-governmental organisations -
Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS) and Jemaah Islam Malaysia Sarawak.
The monitoring exercise consist of three phases - electoral roll verification,
campaign observation and polling day observation.
Eight constituencies in the northern region of
It has hired 30 local volunteers to monitor these constituencies, especially
during the campaign period and on polling day - May 20.