PETALING JAYA, July 30 — The Registrar of Societies (RoS) today said the DAP will have to go for fresh party polls following its probe into a counting error during the opposition party’s elections last December.

RoS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman today confirmed the decision has been made for the DAP to have a re-election for its central executive committee (CEC) as Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was reported saying last night.

“He mentioned that last night. The only thing is we’re preparing ourselves to communicate with the party concerned,” Abdul Rahman told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

“The information is correct,” he said of Zahid’s remarks.

But Abdul Rahman declined to go into details over the decision until the RoS had communicated with the DAP, adding later that it could be done within the week.

Zahid had said that the RoS was dissatisfied with the DAP’s explanation for the counting mistake and the party would be directed to hold its internal polls again, Sin Chew Daily reported today.

According to Sin Chew, Zahid, who is also an Umno vice-president, said he would not interfere in RoS matters.

On January 4, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng revealed that an internal audit showed errors in the tabulation of votes from the December 15, 2012 party elections, which he said were caused by a technical glitch when the results were transferred to a computer using the Microsoft Excel programme.

The amendments resulted in Lim’s political secretary, Zairil Khir Johari, moving up from 39th position to 20th ― the last elected position in the party’s CEC.

Following complaints by some members, the RoS began investigations that at one point led to fears that the party would be unable to use its logo in the Election 2013.

But DAP candidates then went on to contest in the national polls using its logo, after the RoS confirmed the validity of the party CEC’s appointment letters to candidates.