Election Commission chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof should quit his post since he claims that he is "not an expert" on what constitutes inducement during elections, said a polls watchdog.

Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections chief BK Ong said that Abdul Aziz's own admission meant that he was an "incompetent" polls administrator.

"I think he is incompetent since he cannot identify blatant vote buying attempts. In any other countries, similar offenders would have been arrested on the spot," he said

NONE Ong, a veteran polls observer who has participated in four observation missions overseas and observing local polls since 2004, said that Abdul Aziz( left ) appears to be not well versed in the law.

He said that Abdul Aziz should have reported the matter to the authorities for possible violations of the Election Offences Act 1954 and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

Ong was commenting on Abdul Aziz's refusal to state whether the goodie bags distributed by the 1Malaysia NGO in past by-elections and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's "you help me, I help you" speech on Feb 19 at Merlimau violated election laws.

Abdul Aziz claims that the EC had no experts on the matter and it was best left to the other authorities. He even went as far as to suggest that people who attend dinner functions, some with lucky draws, were not local voters.

EC, MACC not serious

On Najib's speech, Ong said the premier was obviously offering a quid pro quo and based on his experience in other countries, the relevant authorities would have begun their probe.

"If the EC and MACC are serious, there are a lot of ways to do it. For example, they can put their foot down now and warn them never to do it again.

"They can stamp their authority if they want to, but they are not doing it," he said.

Ong adds that one of the major flaws in Malaysia's administration of is that the EC commissioners are all retired civil servants from departments and agencies not relevant to the running of polls.

"That's just the top level. At the returning officer level, they are almost always district officers who serve politicians. Would a district officer dare finger wrong doing on the part of his masters?

"Other countries, such as Bangladesh, use retired judicial officers such as retired judges for the position. In Indonesia, respectable NGO leaders are asked to serve the same role. Why not here?" he asked.