IT feels like only yesterday but it’s been three years this week since the historic Bersih rally of 10 Nov 2007 that demanded for free and fair elections. For certain, that 40,000 strong rally, together with the subsequent Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, was partly responsible for the political tsunami of the 2008 general election. […]
Election Commission
The many forms of vote-buying
By Gan Pei Ling
ARE transportation reimbursements, alms for the poor, land titles and welfare allocations given during a by-election just different forms of inducement? Even PAS is not exempt from the very thing it accuses the Barisan Nasional of. Perhaps the only difference is which party the Election Commission dismisses.
Redrawing boundaries for electoral success
By Deborah Loh
SNAP poll next year? Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s popularity rankings are higher than ever before. Some have suggested that the Barisan Nasional (BN) might want the next general election, due only in 2013, called earlier to coincide with the Sarawak state elections which must be held by June 2011. But there is one […]
“Tian Chua keeps seat if EC stays mum”
By Ding Jo-Ann
PETALING JAYA, 23 June 2010: Batu Member of Parliament Chua Tian Chang will keep his seat if the Election Commission (EC) refuses to declare it vacant, said constitutional lawyer Tommy Thomas. This is despite Thomas’s view that Chua was disqualified as an MP when the High Court fined him RM2,000 for biting a police officer. […]
Dilemma over Batu
By Gan Pei Ling
Confusion reigns over the status of Batu MP Tian Chua because of a lack of understanding about what the constitution says. Found in Quotation says it all.
Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut (Kuala Terengganu)
By Deborah LohKUALA TERENGGANU Member of Parliament (MP) Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut’s response to the MP Watch: Eye on Parliament project, which asks all 222 MPs six questions.
Watching our elections
By Deborah LohAn 88-year old voter casting her vote in the Hulu Selangor by-election ELECTION watchdogs have become a regular feature in Malaysian polls since at least 2005. In that year, Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) monitored the Pengkalan Pasir by-election. Mafrel was even officially recognised by the Election Commission (EC) in 2007 as an […]
Third vote conundrum
By Deborah LohTHE Penang government has started removing hurdles in the way of restoring local council elections, and its next stop could be the Federal Court. Lawyers consulted by the state assert that local polls are possible because: • The federal law which governs the polls was never abolished. This law is the Local Government Elections Act […]
Saving Parliament from the EC
By Wong Chin HuatI COULD not believe the Election Commission (EC)’s admission that 228 (0.35%) voters had been transferred out of the Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency to the neighbouring Selayang parliamentary constituency. Now, it is not news that voters get transferred involuntarily — you may even call it voter trafficking or abduction — from their neighbourhoods to faraway […]
The Election Commission’s secret
By Wong Chin HuatBallot box at the entrance of the Election Commission AS expected, the Election Commission (EC) said “no” to the idea of local elections mooted by the Penang and Selangor governments. Perhaps the EC is taking its cue from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is dead against “politicking“, the derogatory term for political competition. […]
