PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has responded negatively to the proposed introduction of the biometric voter verification system by the Election Commission (EC), contrary to the positive response from the party's spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Abdul Hadi said he did not think that the system would be a solution to resolving the issue of alleged phantom voters.

Nik Aziz had reportedly welcomed the proposed system and said the party was prepared for an explanation from the EC on the matter.

hadi awang pc 060609 02 Abdul Hadi, in a statement posted on the party's official portal, claimed that the system was open to manipulation by those operating it because only a small number of people had the expertise to handle it.

"PAS insists that the EC use indelible ink to mark a voter's finger just before voting to get rid of phantom voters and those who vote more than once in an election," he said.

He also said that the EC collaborate with the National Registration Department in the automatic registration of voters.

"It is strange that the EC says it can collaborate with the National Registration Department in handling the biometric system but cannot do so in the automatic registration of voters," he said.

EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said yesterday the EC would implement the biometric system to overcome the issue of alleged phantom voters often raised by the opposition political parties just before every election.

Last Saturday, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said the government was agreeable to providing an allocation to the EC to establish a biometric system to verify genuine voters in an election.

- Bernama

PAS 'too orthodox' for rejecting biometric plan