LETTER | There is a lot to do, to rebuild Malaysia’s institutions and to fulfil the 10 promises in 100 days, but the electoral system reform must be the top priority.

Umno-BN has for decades, through changes to the constitutional and legal provisions and deploying a compliant EC leadership, prejudiced the credibility of the Malaysian electoral system and harmed the fairness and freedom of elections.

For decades, elections were so unfair, corrupt and flawed that they have strengthened public perceptions of electoral malpractices, and even undermined BN’s very political legitimacy and induced political instability.

The Election Commission leadership works under legal and political constraints. But the real constraints are political, not legal. The EC has wide jurisdiction and discretion under the existing constitutional-legal arrangements.

The EC leadership is easily susceptible to the political pressures of the governing party in exercising their jurisdiction and discretion. The EC leadership - not just the current one but ones in the past few decades too - has reduced itself to acting and behaving like a department under the Prime Minister’s Office.

A proper electoral system is the very foundation for democratic governance; the institutional checks-and-balances are buildings that stand on this foundation. Without electoral reform, we stand little chance of ensuring long-term accountable governance and democratic politics in Malaysia.

There is no time to lose. The reforms should be guided by four principles:

(i) securing the constitutional protection of the EC’s independent status; securing the constitutional entrenchment of (ii) rules on maximising voter participation; (iii) rules on conduct of elections in accordance with standards of fairness and equality, and rules on counting processes to ensure transparency and scrutiny; (iv) rules on electoral processes to ensure that no interest is able to secure an unfair advantage.

Carrying out the agenda of reform – nothing short of an overhaul – to the Malaysian electoral system requires constitutional-legal changes and thus strategic collaboration with PAS and the Sarawak and Sabah parties.

The rural-urban ratio for delineation (rural weightage) will be hotly contested. The Pakatan Harapan government will be driven by its own political calculations.

But Umno-BN and PAS, in opposition, should approve of a minimum of 21 days of campaigning, fair and equal media access, reviving local government elections and postal votes reform.

The Local Government Act 1976 can be amended forthwith, by a simple majority, to restore municipal elections. Every major political party should have an interest now to see that at least some of the Harapan electoral reform agenda succeed.

The task is to ensure that the entire Bersih electoral reform agenda succeed, through constitutional amendments and legal changes. The electoral system reform must be the top priority in this first 12-24 months.

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