GE14 | Of the seven countries that will be sending representatives to observe the upcoming elections, only one - Timor Leste - is ranked higher than Malaysia in notable democracy rankings.

Earlier today, the Election Commission (EC) announced that seven countries have confirmed their participation. They are - Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives, Timor Leste, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan.

With the exception of Timor-Leste, The Economist's Democracy Index 2017 and Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2018 reports showed that Malaysia fared better on their democracy scale than the other six countries.

The Economist considered Cambodia and Azerbaijan to be authoritarian regimes, while the Freedom House referred to Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan as "consolidated authoritarian regimes".

According to the EC, foreign observers will comprise those from electoral management bodies (EMB) - the EC's counterparts from those countries. Previously, the EC had announced that election monitoring would only be performed on a reciprocal basis - inviting countries that have previously extended the same invitation to Malaysia.

In all, invitations were sent out to 14 countries. Myanmar, Australia and Kazakhstan have rejected the invitation, while Bosnia Herzegovina, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan and New Zealand have yet to respond.

Of the 14 countries, both Freedom House and The Economist considered only Timor-Leste, India, Australia and New Zealand to be "free" democracies.

The EC did not provide a full list of names of those observers nor did they list out their exact mandate.

Normally, EMB from the European Union, Carter Center or Asian Network for Free and Fair Elections (Anfrel) would provide a full list of election observers and their backgrounds for transparency.

These EMBs would monitor the elections unhindered, prior to nomination day, up until after voting day and make their recommendations public.

The EC said international and local observers will have access to the nomination centres, early polling centres, polling centres, counting centres, as well as the process of tallying the ballots at the official tallying centres.

There are no details on restrictions imposed.

Meanwhile, EC chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah has also announced the appointment of little-known Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre (MCSC) to provide "research and support".

MCSC is ostensibly located in Cambridge, UK but at the time of writing, Malaysiakini is unable to uncover any evidence of their past work.

Mohd Hashim also said 14 domestic NGOs and representatives of local universities were invited to observe the elections as well.

Representing Peninsular Malaysia are Majlis Belia Malaysia, Persatuan Pengundi Wawasan Malaysia, Pusat Pengajian Sejarah, Politik & Strategik Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Fakulti Komunikasi dan Pengajian Media Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Persatuan OKB Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya & Selangor.

From Sabah and Sarawak, the organisations invited are Persatuan Kebangsaan Melayu Sarawak, Persatuan Kebangsaan Orang Ulu Sarawak, Persatuan Kebangsaan Dayak Bidayuh, Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Persatuan Melanau Sibu, Persatuan Cina Miri, Majlis Belia Sabah and Dewan Perniagaan Bumiputera Sabah.