The federal government must approve recommendations to amend election  regulations before it can be implemented, said Election Commission (EC) deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

NONE Contacted today, Wan Ahmad ( left ) agreed that some of the parliamentary select committee’s (PSC) interim report recommendations can be implemented without amending laws or formulating new ones.

However, even a minor amendments to regulations need to be drafted by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and approved by the government.

The next step involves laying the regulations before Parliament in order for it to be gazetted. Only then can the EC implement these.

“It will not take long, but the process needs to be done properly,” he said.

The PSC’s interim report was tabled in Parliament today, with a wide range of recommendations.

EC views report ‘positively’

Committee member Anthony Loke said most of these recommendations can be implemented by the EC without any legislative amendments.

NONE Wan Ahmad said he was unable to comment on the individual recommendations because he has not studied the document, but has been briefed on its content by his officers.

He said that EC welcomes the PSC's report and views its recommendations “very positively”.

On the immediate actions to be taken by EC, Wan Ahmad said the commission has to wait for the Dewan Rakyat to debate the report first.

He revealed that some of the recommendations in the report were the result of PSC’s consultation with the EC.

“Some of (the recommendations) are the views of the PSC members. That is what they feel should be done,” he said.

EC officials were the first witnesses to be called by the PSC, which has thus far held two rounds of public hearings.

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