Electoral reforms: Just do it, EC told
The government should immediately implement the interim recommendations of the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform.
The government should immediately implement the interim recommendations of the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng told a press conference in the Parliament lobby this afternoon that these must be implemented before the 13th general election.
“We hope that the recommendations made by this bipartisan committee set up and approved by Parliament will be respected by the prime minister," he said.
The PSC, he said, has taken a step in the right direction in its recommendations to the Election Commission (EC), by taking in account some of the demands of electoral reform group Bersih 2.0.
"(For) this interim report, DAP is willing to give interim acceptance," he said.
Echoing this, Rasah MP and PSC committee member Anthony Loke pointed out that the summary of the report states that the recommendations must be in place for the 13th general election.
"For example, for cleaning up the electoral roll... I was made to understand that verifying the database will only take one to two weeks.
"The EC has said it needs two to three months to purchase indelible ink and train its officers to use it. (So), if the election is (held) in February, (they will have) two months.
"The onus is now on the EC, we don't want to hear about logistical problems, I think we have discussed that (issue) at length.”
Loke also said it does not mean that certain changes have been rejected just because they are not included in the interim report.
"It's just that we have not (obtained) agreement from both sides. We hope our recommendations can be adopted in the final report," he said.
The interim report, expected to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow, has called on the EC to implement several measures including the use of indelible ink and overseas voting for all citizens.
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