LETTER | Malaysia ranked 125th out of 198 countries in the inaugural World Electoral Freedom Index (Wefi) which was released on 15 January 2018.

Malaysia scored 61.95 out of 100 points. This index measures four components of electoral freedom, namely Political Development (PDI), Active Suffrage Freedom (Asfi), Passive Suffrage Freedom (PSFI), and Elector Empowerment (EEI).

This score puts Malaysia in the “insufficient” category, one place above neighbour Indonesia, several places below the Philippines (103rd), and even below countries like Pakistan (94), Nigeria (104)and Gambia (123).

Out of the four components, Malaysia performed the best in Passive Suffrage Freedom (PSF), ranking eight out of 198 countries. The PSFI measures the degree of freedom a country’s citizens enjoy to be candidates, form political parties and be voted and be elected by society.

Malaysia performed the worst in the Elector Empowerment (EEI) category, ranking an abysmal 184th out of 198 countries.

EEI measures the degree to which there is effectiveness of the election, direct decision-making procedures by the electorate, political pluralism, real power of the representatives and capacity to oust them, and integrity of the political process.

Malaysia’s score and rank in the inaugural Wefi is disappointing. With a general election lurking around the corner, it would have been encouraging if we did better.

This weak performance should send signals to both sides of the political divide that they need to commit to good and transparent governance, and in particular whoever forms the next government must commit to fixing the weaknesses in our electoral system.

The low ranking in the EEI category is an indication that our participatory democracy is very weak. We must address this urgently.

The Wefi report was produced by the Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty, an organisation that promotes the advancement of individual human liberty based in Madrid, Spain, in collaboration with Chile’s Universidad Autónoma.

The WEFI 2018 Report can be found here.

The writer is coordinator of democracy and governance, Ideas.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.