The Election Commission (EC) is gathering evidence against Pakatan Rakyat leaders who it claims have made baseless claims of electoral fraud, before exploring the possibility of taking them to court.

EC deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar told English daily New Straits Times that the evidence gathered would be referred to the commission’s legal advisers for further action.

NONE Naming PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim ( left in photo ) and DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, Wan Ahmad claimed the duo had defamed the commission with allegations of electoral fraud.

Lies from the opposition leaders were spread even before the election and they had peaked on polling day on May 5, he claimed.

Wan Ahmad cited a Twitter message posted by Anwar merely one hour after the ballot counting started on polling day.

"At 6.57pm on May 5, Anwar, through his Twitter account (tweethandle: @anwaribrahim), said 'PR (Pakatan) has won. We urge Umno and the EC not to attempt to hijack the results'.

"This was a blatant lie as there was no way of knowing the full result at that time. Even at 8.30pm, EC officers had only finished counting about 2,000 ballot boxes out of the 52,000 boxes," Wan Ahmad is quoted as saying.

PKR social media strategist Praba Ganesan had confirmed with Malaysiakini on that evening that Anwar's Twitter account had not been hijacked but cautionedthe people not to get "over the top" with the message.

"The results are still coming in and being counted, it just reflects his confidence, it is more of a statement of confidence than of fact," Praba had said.

Rallies 'killing democracy'

According to New Straits Times further, Wan Ahmad also slammed “pro-opposition cybertroopers” for spreading similar false information that Pakatan had won the election as early as 8pm that day.

This, he said, was an attempt to condition the people's minds that Pakatan has won the polls and any other result was false.

"They had planned a propaganda. They did this to convince Pakatan supporters and the people into believing that the opposition cannot lose.

NONE "So, if the election results do not favour Pakatan, they will reject it - claiming that the election was rigged.”

Wan Ahmad also equalled the post-election protest rallies against electoral irregularities to “killing democracy”, which could damage the country.

Earlier today, Malay right-wing group Perkasa vice-president Zulkifli Noordin called on the police and the EC to take legal action against Anwar for organising a series of protest rallies.

Zulkifli said Anwar had humiliated and betrayed the people who had chosen the BN to stay in power.

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