The Election Commission (EC) chose to exclude itself from the disputes surrounding the establishment of parliamentary select committee on electoral reform.

NONE Asked by reporters today, EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusof ( left ) declined to comment on the committee composition proposed by the government.

He appeared to distance himself from his deputy, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, who had argued that election reform group Bersih 2.0 should be excluded from the select committee.

Aziz was also asked to comment on the opposition’s demand to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to give a no-election guarantee before the reforms are implemented.

“I do not know that the report must be ready before the election... I don’t want to comment on that because election is the prerogative of (the prime minister).

“When the Parliament is dissolved, the EC have to decide the election within 60 days.

"Whether the committee is ready or not, that is not the consideration under the law,” he said during a press conference at the EC headquarters in Putrajaya this afternoon.

Details yet to be finalised

He stressed that details of the committee have yet to be finalised and the EC will discuss the matter with the Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz next Monday.

On Wednesday, Nazri announced that the cabinet had decided on a nine-member parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms, comprising five MPs from the government, three from the opposition and one Independent member.

The decision was objected to by the Pakatan Rakyat MPs, who demanded a larger representation in the committee as well as that an opposition MP chair the committee.

Nazri also declined the opposition’s demand to give a guarantee that electoral reforms must be completed before the next general election, but he promised that the government would do its best to implement the committee’s proposals as soon as possible.

The press conference was called after Abdul Aziz and other election commissioners had a meeting with members of Association for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham), an NGO formed by former commissioners of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), to listen to their recommendations on electoral reform.

Asked about attempts by the opposition to drive a wedge between him and his deputy Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, Abdul Aziz said it was politically motivated.

Describing it as a “political statement”, Abdul Aziz stressed the he and other commissioners work as a team.

His statement was echoed by Proham member Ramon Navaratnam, who slammed the attempt as “political mischief” to discredit the EC and government with the purpose of influencing the voters.

After the Bersih 2.0 demonstration on July 9, Wan Ahmad has been making partisan statements against the electoral reform coalition, alleging that the rally was held to garner support for the opposition in the next general election.

Comparatively, Abdul Aziz has been playing the role of ‘good cop’ who is willing to engage and be open to views and criticism.

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