Representatives from political parties will not be allowed to monitor the postal votes coming from the numerous military and police bases in the country, the Prime Minister's Department said.

In a written reply to the Dewan Rakyat earlier this week, the department called on all parties to be 'confident and satisfied' with the process.

The department said the armed forces rejected the proposal on the grounds that officials from the Election Commission (EC) are present to ensure that the voting process adhered to the rules and regulations.

"The voting process in police or army camps are monitored and witnessed by EC officials. Therefore, parliamentarians and political parties should be confident and satisfied.

"Not only opposition representatives but those from the government are also barred (from monitoring)," said the department in response to a question from Mohd Apandi Mohamad (PAS-Jeli).

No irregularities

In the three-page reply, the department also explained how and why the postal voting process was free of irregularities.

The department said the EC will appoint administrative election workers to handle the postal votes and on the day before polling, all postal vote envelopes would be handed to them.

It added that this process will be witnessed by representatives from the various political parties.

Subsequently, the workers will then distribute the envelopes to eligible postal voters and this process is monitored by EC officials.

"On voting day, EC officials will be present to monitor each procedure to ensure it is carried out in accordance to the laws.

"Envelopes which could not be delivered to the concerned voters will be taken back by the EC officials," said the department.

'Many loopholes'

Commnting on this, Mohd Apandi remained sceptical and claimed that the presence of EC officials did not put suspicions to rest.

According to him, PAS received complaints that these officials were not present at the polling stations in the camps and bases during the last elections.

However, the opposition MP said he was not questioning EC's authority but was merely highlighting the fact that political parties are unable to monitor the postal voting process.

Mohd Apandi also criticised the official reason that such camps and bases were off-limits to outsiders due to security reasons.

"This is a lame excuse. Do these camp authorities deter everybody from entering? No, contractors and suppliers are going in everyday. The general election is an event which happens only once in five years.

"If this (security) is the main reason, it could be easily resolved by appointing two or three army personnel to escort the political parties representatives," he quipped.

The PAS leader also charged that the current process is riddled with "loopholes" and allows the possibility of "one person voting for a group of people".

Still waiting for Najib

In a recent exclusive interview with malaysiakini , EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul said he had requested that political parties be allowed to monitor the process and Defence Minister Najib Razak was deliberating the matter.

Police and army personnel are entitled to vote in their respective camps several days before polling day in order for them to carry out their duties on that day.

According to official statistics, there were about 151,000 police postal votes and 83,000 army postal votes in the last general election.