The Election Commission chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman has conceded that his organisation's ability to carry out its task independently has been hampered by the government.

"Whether the EC is seen to be independent ... depends on one important fact: how tolerant is the ruling party? In most Western countries, the party in power is tolerant. They take criticism openly. Here, we have not come to that level," he told malaysiakini in an exclusive interview .

Abdul Rashid, who has 30 years of experience in organising elections, lamented that the federal constitution is silent on the commission's independence.