SPR admit failure but not open to new ideas

SPR Chief Admit failure in voter registration

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/bahasa/52593-daftar-pengundi-baru-dingin-spr-kaji-pendaftaran-wajib

Daftar pengundi baru ‘dingin’, SPR kaji pendaftaran wajib
Oleh G. Manimaran

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 9 — Sambil mengakui usaha-usaha diambil untuk menarik pengundi baru masih gagal, Pengerusi Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof berkata pihaknya sedang mengkaji pendaftaran online dan berwajib.

“Saya boleh katakan kita gagal…,” kata beliau ketika ditanya sama ada segala pendekatan tambahan yang diambil sejak satu dekad lalu tidak membuahkan hasil atau gagal mencapai sasaran yang diharapkan suruhanjaya itu.

Majority Perak voters want fresh poll

Majority’s view is that they want a fresh poll to straighten up the political stagnation issue in Perak. Why is the people’s view swept aside by an unelected Menteri Besar who claim his opponents `don’t know’ democracy?

Majority of Perak voters want fresh elections, poll shows

By The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — Nearly three in four voters, or 74 per cent, feel that fresh state elections remain the best way to resolve the political crisis in Perak, a new poll conducted on the eve of the first anniversary of Barisan Nasional’s controversial takeover of the government shows.

The independent Merdeka Center survey of 805 registered voters also shows that Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and Pakatan Rakyat’s Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin, the man he replaced, are neck-and-neck in their respective approval ratings.

PBS want more consultations on early polling & other election law changes

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newspolitic.php?id=471311

January 26, 2010 19:06 PM

PBS Supports Reform To Electoral System

KOTA KINABALU, Jan 26 (Bernama) — Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) supports the Election Commission’s (EC) efforts to reform the electoral system but calls for a proper consultation with stakeholders, especially political parties, which will be affected by the change.

Commenting on the EC’s proposal to introduce an early voting system, PBS Secretary-General Henrynus Amin said the party was taken by surprise by the announcement as the EC had not consulted the party nor any of its leaders.

Sarawak state elections closer

2 campaigns by BN ministers to Sarawak where they promised new projects are giving hints that the State Elections in Sarawak is getting closer:

*Visit by DPM Muhyiddin Yassin to Sg Asa, where he make promises on issuing of ICs to local residents who were relocated from Bakun Dam;

* Visit by Shafie Aphdal to Kapit -where he promised a multi-million road project;

Watch out for more.

There are speculations of the State Elections coming in June or September this year. The last date to conduct the election is June 2011.

Ong BK

Kota Siputeh by-election jugment SOON!

Watch out election observers! Another by-election coming after a lull!

Kota Siputeh rep waits for final court decision on by-election

JITRA, Feb 1 — The fate of Jerlun Umno division head Datuk Abu Hassan Sarip as the State Assemblyman for Kota Siputeh is expected to be known very soon.

Deputy Chairman of the Election Commission (EC) Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the Court of Appeal would decide on the status of the Kota Siputeh state seat, whether it would remain with the Barisan Nasional (BN) or call for a by-election.

“We are awaiting the decision of the Appeals Court after the panel of judges study the written judgment by the High Court Judge,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

The Kota Siputeh state constituency has 19,771 voters and of the total, 18,130 are Malays while the rest is made up of Chinese, Indians and the Siamese community.

The state constituency is within the Jerlun Parliamentary constituency represented by BN’s Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir situated along the Kedah/Perlis border.

Wan Ahmad said the EC was ready for any eventuality and if the Appeals Court directed for a by-election, one would have to be called for as the last general election was held less than two years ago.

The ‘maturity’ period where a by-election need not be held even if there is a vacancy is three years after the general election, in this case after June 2011.

State Assembly Speaker Datuk Dr Abdul Isa Ismail said the move to vacate the Kota Siputeh state seat was most appropriate based on Article 51 of the Kedah State Constitution when Abu Hassan was found to be absent from the State Assembly sitting twice consecutively.

He said Abu Hassan had lost his eligibility as a State Assemblyman since Aug 17, 2009 and as such, he was prevented from attending the State Assembly’s budget sitting in November.

Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak said the case should be taken as a lesson by all State Assemblymen with regard to their responsibility to attend the State Assembly sitting.

On the possibility of a by-election, the Kedah Pas commissioner said the party had always felt that wresting an Umno seat would always be a difficult task.

“We know the Kota Siputeh state seat is an Umno stronghold and Pas has never won the seat since it was created under the Jerlun Parliamentary constituency,” he said.

Nevertheless, Azizan said Pas would certainly contest the seat and field a candidate acceptable to the constituents.

Should a by-election be held in Kota Siputeh, it would be the second in the state after the by-election for the Bukit Selambau state seat in April last year.

The Bukit Selambau by-election was held when its Assemblyman V. Arumugam from the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) resigned. PKR retained the seat through S. Manikumar in the by-election which created history when it was contested by 13 candidates including BN’s Datuk S. Ganeson.

Abu Hassan has represented the Kota Siputeh state seat for three terms consecutively. However, according to Umno sources, it is uncertain whether Abu Hassan would be fielded again as the candidate as several other names have been mentioned.

They include the Jerlun Umno vice-head Abdul Aziz Mahmud, Umno divisional committee member Zulkefli Awang, Jerlun Umno Youth head Mohamad Hairi Ahmad and Jerlun Wanita Umno head Datuk Maznah Abdul Hamid.

Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was recently quoted as saying that in the event of a by-election, Mukhriz would not be fielded as the candidate.

On Nov 23, High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) Judge Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin had dismissed the application by the EC to postpone the order made by him earlier at the High Court on Nov 16 when he declared the Kota Siputeh state seat vacant and that Abu Hassan was no longer as Assemblyman.

He had also ordered the EC to issue a writ for a by-election. However, the EC later filed an appeal at the Putrajaya Appeals Court. — Bernama

E-voting creat chaos in UM students elections-solution

The results of students election using e-voting has been disputed by many students in the campus for good reasons: e-voting has been shown -no less on Fox news, to be easily tempered, see a news clip above. The best practice is to ensure that there is a paper trial for confirming the counting using computer ie when there is a dispute the votes can be recounted manually to dispel any doubts. But this might not have been done in the UM election-thus justifiably aroused disputes by the students.

Another source of trouble is: there is no observers allowed into the election operation to ensure integrity of the administrators and the election process. Where there is no effective check and balance what could happen will likely to happen, or at least seen to have happened! This is a trouble invited by the UM authority who refused to make the elections transparent and worst, choose to be partisan in supporting 1 side of the elections, as alleged by some students!

E-voting not considered currently-SPR

NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS :: Local News
Is Malaysia ready for e-voting?
Electronic-voting or e-voting has been implemented in campus elections since 2004. Hemananthani Sivanandam looks at whether it should be expanded to cover national elections.

THOUGH e-voting has been successfully implemented in some countries such as the United States, Europe and even in parts of India, issues of trust, integrity and infrastructure must be addressed before Malaysia can do the same, say analysts.

Early voting system under EC consideration

EC consider the current postal voting as a form of early voting-and may want to take out the stigma associated with current postal voting by expanding those eligible for postal/early voting to many more career groups. But will the early voting be following the current non-transparent administration of postal voting? The issue is not whether it is early voting/multiple day polling-but whether the process is transparent and open to full scrutiny by all parties-including observers!

Ong BK

EC studying early voting system

2010/01/24

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat: An early voting system, also known as advance voting, that allows voters to cast their votes earlier, and a two-day cooling off period before polling, may be implemented the country.
Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the commission was studying both systems that were being used in several countries like Thailand and Indonesia.

According to him, the focus of the EC was to replace postal voting system, which, in essence, was as a form of early voting.

473 000 Sarawakians not registered as voters1

4.4m eligible voters yet to register

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 18 — Some 28 per cent or 4.39 million Malaysians over the age of 21 have yet to register as voters as of end of last year, Election Commission (EC) Deputy Chairman Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said.

Of the total, Selangor has the highest number at 787,000 followed by Johor (605,000), Perak (526,000) and Sarawak (473,000).

“Most of them, or about 65 per cent, are Malays and Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak.

“From the registration forms we received recently, we found that more non-Bumiputera youths registering themselves as voters,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Until the end of last year, there were 11.08 electorates in the country compared to the number of those aged 21 and above, which was 15.47 million, he said.

Wan Ahmad said the EC would seek the cooperation of non-governmental organisations, youth organisations or those organising events involving the attendance of a huge number of people, to inform the EC so that it could open voter registration counters.

“They can just contact us and inform us about their events. The EC will be very happy to open a counter there,” he said.

He also said that the EC would intensify efforts to register voters by putting up counters at shopping malls, participating in meet-the-client sessions organised by departments, going into the rural areas and appointing deputy registrars among political parties to register those qualified to be registered.

The public could also register as voters at 700 post offices nationwide, he said. The EC would also seek the cooperation from the electronic media to encourage the public to register as voters, he added.

He attributed the situation to the attitude of the public who prefer to wait until the very last minute before registering as voters.

“Each time there is a general election, the EC receives at least a million application forms; so imagine the burden of certifying these applications within one or two months.

“When they cannot be registered on time, they blame the EC, when in fact they can register as voters throughout the year.

“The people should be aware that our election system practices a simple majority victory. A candidate can win even by a margin of one vote; so the voters have a huge responsibility in determining the future of our country,” he said. — Bernama

Uzbekistan’s elections said to be free by SPR has no Opposition

Some time back SPR’s `observers’ to the uzbekistan elections pronounced the elections there `free and fair’ after only observing the voting process-and not the entire elections. Actually the EU only sent a partial team of observers there as though to tell the world that they are closing a eye on this elections without Opposition. Now you know what it means when SPR who don’t practice free and fair elections, pronounce an election free and fair by its standards!

Ong BK

Apathy and fear as Uzbekistan votes in election

TASHKENT, Dec 27 — Uzbekistan held a staged-managed parliamentary election on Sunday, drawing little Western criticism due to its key role in efforts to contain the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.