PKR suspects postal voters 'cloned' for double voting
PKR today raised suspicion of "double voting" following its discovery that postal voters, who the Election Commission says have been taken out of the lists of voters in several constituencies, are still listed as voters in those areas on the EC website.
PKR today raised suspicion of "double voting" following its discovery that postal voters, who the Election Commission says have been taken out of the lists of voters in several constituencies, are still listed as voters in those areas on the EC website.
According to Batu MP Tian Chua (
left
), at least 34 names of postal voters said to have been removed from the Batu constituency because they changed their addresses, were still listed as voters in Batu on the commission's website.
This was discovered when the MP compared the electoral roll update for the second quarter of 2011 with the list of voters sent to him by the commission.
"For example, one Shakira Ismail, wife to IKD1092267, with the MyKad number 680820025644, is listed as a Batu voter online, but not on the list given to me by the EC," he said.
"In Setiawangsa there are 115 names (like this) and in Wangsa Maju there are 20 names. We did not check for the whole country, just these three constituencies and already there are so many problems," Tian Chua told reporters at the PKR headquarters in Tropicana, Petaling Jaya today.
He said the EC, in its quarterly updates to MPs, did not provide the new addresses of the voters listed as having been moved out of the constituencies they were registered in.
"So we don't know where these people are now. In the Batu list, it is stated that they have moved out, which means they would have been added to the voter list somewhere else... but the EC website says they are still voting in Batu," he added.
To a question, Chua added that is would be “curious” if this discrepancy between the online and paper list exists because the online version is not updated.
“If all details for voters (who have moved out of the constituency) have not been updated, then it’s fair enough... but how is it that only these 30-odd voters are not updated?” he asked, questioning why the EC is still struggling to tie up loose ends on the electoral roll.
PKR plans to submit its findings to the EC this week and is also seeking to have a meeting with the commission on the matter.
Why the massive spike in postal voters?
The PKR vice-president also questioned the spike in new postal voters from the police and armed forces and their spouses.
Based on an answer given to Chua in Parliament during the March sitting, new postal voters from the armed forces leapt from 296 in 2009 to a whopping 13,265 in 2010 nationwide.
New postal voters from the police force also more than doubled from 889 in 2009 to 3,027 the following year.
Spouses of those in the armed forces registered as new postal voters in 2009 totalled 313 and ballooned to 17,270 in the year 2010.
The parliamentary constituencies which saw the largest spikes in new postal voters from the armed forces are Setiawangsa (from none in 2009 to 1,563 in 2010), Lumut (from 29 in 2009 to 1,628 in 2010), Teluk Kemang (111 in 2009 to 1,017 in 2010) and Tangga Batu (from none in 2009 to 933 in 2010).
“What is the reason for the jump in postal voters?Are we recruiting more soldiers now or are soldiers all suddenly wanting to vote? How many soldiers in this country are eligible to vote and how many have yet to register?
“What is the maximum number of postal voters that can be registered as voters (from the police and armed forces) now? It looks like it can increase at any time,” he said.
Also present at the press conference was PKR disciplinary committee chairperson Tan Kee Kwong
(right in photo
), who said that if the government is sincere about electoral reform then they should consider cleaning the roll by re-registering all voters.
“They cannot do this now as there is not enough time (until the next general election) but if they are sincere (about electoral reform) then this can be done after the 13th general election.
“Just re-register everyone. Even a Year Six fellow can tell you that. The government will say this will take money... doesn’t the biometric system use a lot money too?” he asked.
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