The Election Commission (EC) has noted that the refusal by its presiding officers in charge of polling stations to sign Form 14 should not have occurred.

This was said in a parliamentary reply by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong who oversees laws and parliamentary affairs.

"EC is of the view that this should not have happened given that every presiding officer was given intensive training to ensure that all Form 14s prepared by the EC were completely filled up," said Liew yesterday.

Form 14 is the official statement that summarises election results from a polling station and needs to be signed by the presiding officer.

Pakatan Harapan and Parti Warisan Sabah had both raised concerns over the delay in signing Form 14 on the night of May 9, voting day for the 14th general election.

"EC will conduct a post-mortem with every officer throughout the country to discuss issues raised during the 14th general election which includes refusal in signing the Form 14," Liew told Ahmad Hassan (Warisan-Papar).

Liew, who is also the Warisan permanent chairperson, added EC will improve current EC processes and procedures in response to various complaints received during the polls.

"EC will take into consideration the views and proposals by various parties as it is important to ensure what happened during the 14th general election does not happen again," he said.