A NGO today announced forming a voluntary team to observe 20 seats identified to be prone to electoral fraud under a nationwide ‘Jom Pantau’ campaign, as the 13th general election looms.

Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (Komas) coordinator (citizenship and voter education programme) Arul Prakkash said these seats are in Selangor, Perak, Penang, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, but the list has not been finalised yet.

"We will start observing the situation on the ground the moment they dissolve Parliament, and compile a list of electoral offences they commit, should there be any," he said.

He also welcomed members of the public to report cases of electoral fraud to the NGO, which they would publish on their website after verification.

Criteria for identifying the ‘hot seats’ are those that:

  • have high-profile politicians as candidates;
  • had last won by a slim majority, that a slight vote swing next GE will seriously impact the results;
  • have large number of postal votes; and,
  • have seen a sudden increase in registered voters

  Prakkash said 20 seats are the maximum the self-funded project can cover, but they hope the Election Commission (EC) can take cognizance of the incidents of fraud to enforce stricter rules.

 "We will act as a pressure group and hold weekly press conferences so that the candidates can be cleaner, if not the public will not be more aware of what is happening," he said at a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

The NGO, which made its monitoring debut during Sarawak election, said they had received "more than 100 complaints" of malpractices in that poll.

Among the common manipulations, he said, include fishing for votes polling day, using of schools' facilities for campaigning, last minute cancellation of rally permit and partial media reports.

Besides the website , members the public are encouraged to lodge complaints with Komas via e-mail, tweeter, short messaging service (SMS), Facebook or a designated toll-free hotline (03-2282 1205).