PETALING JAYA, April 25 ― More suspect new voters have been discovered in constituencies won by the Opposition with slim majority in the last general election, Bersih 2.0 alleged today.
The polsl reform group said its investigation found a highly suspicious transfer of a significant number of voters in the Bukit Katil federal seat and one of its state constituencies, Bukit Baru, in Malacca.
Bersih 2.0 co-chairman Maria Chin told reporters here that the discovery strengthened the group’s suspicion of a “political attempt” to influence the 14th general election results to favour the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
“These figures are significantly higher than the average number of new voters in other areas, giving rise to the likelihood of a deliberate and coordinated effort to influence the likely electoral result for the two affected constituencies,” she said.
According to Bersih 2.0, there were a total of 73 new voters registered to two addresses in Bukit Baru while in Bukit Katil, 46 voters were said to have been registered to a single address.
Both seats were won with thin majorities; Bukit Baru with only 48 votes and the Bukit Katil federal seat with 5,733 votes.
The Malacca case is not the first time Bersih 2.0 has found questionable registration of new voters; it had previously highlighted similar findings in Johor and Selangor, which had been raised by assemblymen from the two respective states in February.
Johor, the birthplace of Umno, was practically impenetrable till the last general elections in 2013, when the Opposition made gains for the first time since Independence in 1957.
Selangor has been led by PKR since Election 2008, but Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has repeatedly asserted that the BN coalition he leads will work hard to regain the country’s most developed state.
Today, Maria also hit out at the Election Commission (EC) for what she claimed to be deliberately ignoring Bersih 2.0’s calls for action against these dubious voter transfer activities.
“They said they don't have the power to remove the names… this is clearly untrue,” she said.
EC officials have been reported saying there is nothing illegal with voters changing their addresses without physically moving there if the owners of the houses allows it.
The reform group said this was a blatant violation of Article 119(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution, which asserts that only a resident can vote in a particular constituency.
Maria said that at the moment, Bersih 2.0 has no power to challenge the EC's action, but will continue to collect data and highlight the issue through the media.
