EC/SPR relinguish power to act on election spending offences

EC does not have power to combat abuses of political funds

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30, 2009) : The Electoral Commission (EC) only has the power to regulate how and what campaign materials are used, and does not have the jurisdiction to combat abuses of political funds, said its deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

“The legal authority and responsibility of the EC is confined to the enforcement of S24B of the Election Offences Act, pertaining to the use and type of election campaign materials, the display of election materials and regulations and limitations,” he said.

Postal voters’ secrecy continue to be under threat

No plans for anonymous postal votes, says Nazri

[Form 2 needed to trace postal ballots, says Nazri. — Picture by Choo Choy May]

Form 2 needed to trace postal ballots, says Nazri. — Picture by Choo Choy May
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — The government has no plan to abolish the “Borang 2” (Form 2) in the postal voting system as the form is necessary to ensure that the ballot paper is issued to the right individual, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the form would help determine the valid postal ballot paper should there be fraud in the issuing of postal ballots during an election.

“Without the serial number of the ballot paper on the form, it will be difficult to trace the postal ballots. This is the main reason why Borang 2 has to be retained,” he said in a written reply to Abdul Aziz Abdul Kadir (PKR-Ketereh).

Abdul Aziz had asked the government to state the factors which prohibited the abolition of the form in the postal voting system.

The regulations require a postal voter to complete Borang 2 by giving his or her full name, identity card number and the ballot paper number.

The form will be retained by the returning officer. — Bernama

Imminent by-election at Kota Siputeh

High Court blocks EC bid, insists on by-election in Kedah
By Debra Chong(Malaysianinsider.com )

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — The Election Commission failed today to get the High Court here to stay its decision last week that a by-election must be held in the Kedah state seat of Kota Siputeh within 60 days.

Postal votes to remain BN’s `fixed deposit’!

Malaysian ruling party BN insist on forcing the military and police personnel as well as their family members to vote under the so called `postal voting’ method where the voters are not allowed access by non-ruling parties and where the voting is not handled by the Election Commission as required by the Constitution. The system had allowed overwhelming support to the ruling parties since the Independence of the country. Such unfair voting practices mean that the BN had enjoyed block votes for its candidates where ever there are police quarters(which is quite pervasive) and military camps(quite substantial in many constituencies, and more are planned to locate 1 at each constituency). The excuse given by the ruling party is incredible: they claim that that is to safeguard the voting rights of the military and police personnel as well as their family members. However the rights of these citizens as voters are violated in a number of ways under the `postal vote’ system eg they are barred from campaign by non-ruling parties/candidates; the secrecy of their votes cannot be guaranteed since the voting process is not open to observation by party agents or independent poll observers. Worse: they are made to adopt less than satisfactory `postal vote’ procedure when they are voting where they are registered! So : why must they vote through a system which is susceptible to manipulations?

Ong BK

Nazri: Postal votes to stay

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — The government has no plans to review or change the postal voting system for the police and armed forces, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz today.

Nazri said the Election Commission (EC) does allow representatives of parties contesting in a particular election to witness the voting process to ensure it was carried out in a fair and transparent manner.

“EC feels the postal voting system is still relevant in accordance with election procedures,” said Nazri in Parliament today when replying to a question by Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa) who wanted to know if the government had any plans to change the system.

Govt departments’ expenses on by-elections cannot be ascertained by SPR!

Soalan Dewan Negara di mesyuarat Kedua, Penggal Kedua Parlimen Ke 12

SOALAN:

Senator Tn haji Muhamad Yusof bin Husin minta PERDANA MENTERI menyatakan jumlah kewangan yang dibelanjakan oleh semua agensi Kerajaan untuk mengendalikan pilihan raya kecil 2009 bagi kawasan Parlimen Bukit Gantang, Perak; DUN Bukit Selambau, Kedah; DUN Batang Ai, Sarawak; dan DUN Penanti, Pulau Pinang.

JAWAPAN:

Tuan Yang Dipertua,
Untuk makluman Ahli-ahli Yang Berhormat, terdapat pelbagai pihak yang terlibat secara langsung di dalam proses pilihanraya termasuk pihak-pihak berkuasa dan jabatan-jabatan di bawah kementerian yang berlainan. Perbelanjaan oleh pihak-pihak tersebut tidak dapat ditentukan oleh Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR).

Namun, pecahan jumlah kewangan yang dibelanjakan oleh SPR, mengikut Bahagian pilihan Raya yang terlibat adalah seperti berikut:

UMNO Assembly paving for 13th general elections?

The UMNO Assembly after Abdullah Badawi assumed PM-ship paved the way for an early political `tsunami’ in 2004 General Elelctions. The dissappointment with the performance of Badawi led to the next `tsunami’ sweeping the other way against UMNO in 2008 GE. Now that Najib become PM and come out with another sweet talking `1 Malaysia’ General Assembly -is it another hint for a General Elelctions? An analyst think so:

Déjà ‘vu: Is it 2004 again?

OCT 19 — I spent most of last week watching the Umno AGM. Several things struck me (I’m sure you feel the same way).

Has this anything to do with abnormal voters growth in Sabah?

More than 600,000 foreigners detected in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU, Oct 18 — A total of 610,614 foreigners have been detected so far in operations in the west coast and east coast of Sabah, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said.

He said the number consisted of 5,643 illegal immigrants identified under the first phase of Operasi Bersepadu, 4,425 illegal immigrants identified under the second phase of the same operation, 312,837 under the registration of undocumented workers and their dependents, 57,197 refugees and 230,000 foreign workers with valid permits.

He said that the most significant success of the Operasi Bersepadu was the registration of 312,837 undocumented immigrant workers and their dependents.

Perak state elections coming????

After Bagan Pinang win has UMNO become embolden enough to call for a Perak wide state elections to confirm its take over of the state government? Actually there was a detectable flow back of Malay support to UMNO at the Bkt Gantang by-election too. May be this is what it takes for UMNO to allow the people to have a say on who should lead the Perak state government-when they are controlling the state govt and when they see the `wind’ blowing their way. The mark of true politicians-not those who respect the people’s will as the highest reference as in a true democracy!

Ong BK

October 16, 2009 12:11 PM

Names Of New Voters In Perak On Display

Landslide win for BN’s Isa

BN buy votes on eve of Bagan Pinang poll?

`I give you money, you give me vote-OK?'

Press report (Malaysiakini.com) has it that DPM Muhyiddin announced that he will give away RM480 000.00 to 3 Chinese schools in Bagan Pinang at a Lantern Festival attended by MCA leaders. He made it clear his intention: `I give you money -you give me your vote-OK?’ He said he will announce more allocations to other schools and temples around the constituency the next day. At the same lantern festival 223 seniors of over 60 years old were given `angpow’ of RM100.00 each.