The Election Commission (EC) has removed from its official website a link to several pages listing down the results of the 11th general election although no reason has been given for this.

The link, which was available as of Monday, no longer appeared from early yesterday evening.

The omission was noted by a number of malaysiakini readers, some of whom questioned if the move was in response to discrepancies in polling statistics raised by opposition leaders.

However, the result pages are still available for viewing online via a direct URL .

Neither EC secretary Wan Ahmad Wan Omar nor the commission's public relations officers were available for comment.

Unreturned ballots

Aside from the election results, the EC pages also contain statistics on polling activities, including the total number of registered voters, ballots cast, spoilt votes, and unreturned ballot papers.

These statistics have been used by opposition parties dissatisfied with Sunday's election results to highlight the marked gaps in ballot figures.

Among others, it has been noted certain constituencies were marked by the high number of unreturned ballot papers, in some cases, in excess of 10,000 pieces.

(Unreturned ballots are ballot papers which were issued to voters at polling stations but for some reason never made it to the ballot boxes.)

Opposition parties have also questioned the high percentage of voter turnout in several constituencies as compared to previous elections.

No response yet

PAS leaders have claimed that the problem mainly affects constituencies in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, where the party had expected to do well against their Barisan Nasional rivals.

EC officials have not responded to either of these observations.

Sunday's election saw one of the biggest victories for BN in the 47-year history of the nation, which resulted in PAS' influence dramatically reduced.

The Islamic opposition party lost control of Terengganu but managed to hold on to Kelantan with a tissue-thin majority.

The party has since said it would not recognise the results of the election.