Voter transfer illegal, Bersih says 'sue'
The transfer by the Election Commission of 228 voters in Kampung Tanjung, Sungai Cho from the Hulu Selangor constituency into the Selayang constituency is unconstitutional, claims the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih).
The transfer by the Election Commission of 228 voters in Kampung Tanjung, Sungai Cho from the Hulu Selangor constituency into the Selayang constituency is unconstitutional, claims the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih).
Bersih spokesperson and former Bar Council chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan ( below ) said the exercise carried out by EC involves electoral delineation.
"It is our view that the (action) of EC is basically an usurpation of the powers of Parliament because delineation is something within the purview of Parliament," she said.
Speaking at a press conference at Kuala Lumpur, she added that such transfer could only be done at voters’ request or when an electoral delineation exercise takes place once every 10 years pursuant to Schedule 13 of the federal constitution.
Last Sunday, PKR election director Fuziah Salleh had revealed that one-fifth of Hulu Selangor had been reassigned to new polling stations and a further 228 voters were transferred to another constituency.
Commenting how voters should react, Sreenevasan said that Bersih will consider if legal action against EC is possible in this instance and asked affected voters to do the same.
Bersih relaunched
"I encourage any voter that is disenfranchised to take legal advice to see if they can challenge what the EC has done," she said.
The EC was also slammed for transferring some 14,000 voters within Hulu Selangor to new polling stations without providing adequately early notification to voters.
"We are worried that there will be confusion and chaos on the day when these voters turn up at their usual voting stations only to be told they will have to go somewhere else," said Sreenevasan.
Earlier, Sreenevasan announced the relaunch of the Bersih coalition dubbed ‘ Bersih 2.0 ' saying that unlike before the movement will be a non-partisan NGO effort without any affiliation to political parties.
In November 2007, Bersih had organised a mammoth rally in Kuala Lumpur with some 40,000 people to demand for electoral reform. The organisation however has fallen off the public radar in recent years.
