KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — The Election Commission (EC) said it will list candidates whose representatives are absent during the voting and counting process at each polling stream in the 14th general election.

EC chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah told local daily Sinar Harian that this was to prevent any allegations against the commission from losing candidates.

"This is what I want to stress. In the past, we didn’t care if the candidate’s representative was present or not. But all sorts of allegations were thrown when the representative was absent during the voting and ballot-counting process.

"This time, I want to name candidates’ representatives who are present or absent in a particular area,” Mohd Hashim was quoted saying.

He reportedly said that during the counting process, a candidate’s representative would verify each ballot as well as Form 14 that contained the total ballots and votes received by each candidate.

He also said the EC would not object if certain parties wanted to sleep with the boxes containing the ballots in the police lock-up, but noted that the police may have their own procedures.

The EC will also use the services of international observers in the 14th general election that must be held by August next year.

"We have identified these observers, especially looking at Asean countries. They have previously invited us to be observers in their countries during elections. These observers are not looking for faults or to accuse any party of any wrongdoing. We receive their reports to improve any flaws,” Mohd Hashim said.

Mohd Hashim reportedly said that when he served as an election observer abroad, he had noticed that for people with disabilities and those who needed assistance to get to a location, election officers would bring the ballot box to their home.

"Try doing that in our country, what would happen?” he questioned.