The reluctance of the Election Commission (EC) to provide sufficient voter registration forms to political parties may be a move to limit the amount of new voters, charged Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.

new america one malaysia khairy jamaluddin tony puah forum 040609 01 According to Pua ( right ), the EC enforces a limit of 1,000 registration forms monthly for each political party and while only 6,000 forms were issued to the Selangor EC by the Putrajaya headquarters.

Complicating matters further, the EC only allows one assistant registrar for each political party in a parliamentary constituency, who is limited to 50 forms during each visit to the Selangor EC office.

Pua argued that 50 forms were not enough for even a one-night voter registration drive, which are held in community halls and at night markets.

“Then, there are some assistant registrars who don't get any (forms)... this is very strange as it only happens in Selangor, because it doesn’t seem to be the case in other states,” said Pua.

He said that in some constituencies, there are about 300 to 500 people of voting age who were not registered as voters and therefore the 1,000 forms a month cap was not practical.

“We have checked with other Pakatan Rakyat states like Penang and they do not seem to have a shortage of forms. This is the first time we have heard of such a quota. There should be as  many forms as possible,” said a vexed Pua.

An EC ploy?

Adding it all up, Pua suspects a ploy by the EC to reduce the number of young voters - who are more likely to support the opposition - in Selangor.

He said the latest data estimates that there are 787,000 eligible voters who have yet to register themselves and the limited forms provided by the EC contradicts their pledge to increase the voter base.

“Is this a strategy by EC? Are they putting any effort to register Selangor’s youths themselves?” he asked.

                

Pua also slammed the EC’s indecision on the proposal to increase the number of assistant registrars for each parliamentary constituency.

“We have 22 assistant registrars, and the EC at the beginning of the year said that they would increase the number to 110 but this has been postponed indefinitely.”

He said the EC has also refused to allow amendments to the current list of 22 DAP assistant registrars, despite being told that some of them were inactive.

“Why are they delaying this? This is a clear policy to restrict the number of voters registered in Selangor by Pakatan,” he said.

In a Malaysiakini special report last month, EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the rules being enforced to vet assistant registration officers (AROs) are an effort to revamp the system, rather than an attempt to frustrate political parties and NGOs.