A credible, open review is needed to improve the Election Commission, following the inefficiencies and blunders that surfaced during the 2004 general election, an elections expert today said.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia academic Norani Othman lauded the EC's proposal last week that called for a independent inquiry into its own procedures, and to look into how the electoral roll became so flawed.

However, Norani said such an inquiry must meet the requirements of credibility and openness, and be perceived as independent.

"There should be a credible review, not an internal audit alone," said the deputy director of UKM's Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (Ikmas).

Last week, the EC said that an internal investigation was underway and a report would be made in 10 days.

"There's much improvement to be made, including in EC procedures. For example, the EC has claimed that they hadn't had time to train their staff. If so, questions on why they compromised on this needs to be raised," she said.

At seven-and-a-half days, the campaign period for the recent election was the shortest in the electoral history of Malaysia.

EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, on announcing the polling dates, had said the decision was made after considering the commission's capacity to run the elections and the need to form a government as quickly as possible.

Government decision

Law expert Shad Saleem Faruqi when contacted said it would ultimately be up to the government to decide on public demands for an inquiry into the conduct of the polls.

And while commissions of inquiry are useful for fact-finding, this would not nullify anything if found that violations occurred in the 2004 electoral exercise, said the Universiti Teknologi Mara professor.

Voters, however, could take civil action for being denied the right to vote, Shad said, but this would be new territory for Malaysian courts.

"Certainly the EC can be sued, and the government would have to pay damages. In Britain for example, cases have been brought on this matter and damages were awarded," he said.

On the other hand, candidates could make application for an election petition, but the law only provides for redress on an individual constituency basis, rather than the whole election exercise.

In any case, even if there has been a massive violation of procedures, the courts here, as in anywhere else, won't be eager to declare null the election, said Shad.

Bearing in mind that it costs roughly more than RM100 million to run an entire election ranging from preparing the electoral roll to running the polling process, "they (the courts) would look for other remedies first", he said.

Unprecedented complaints

On Saturday, Transparency International vice president Param Cumaraswamy had backed the EC's call for an independent inquiry into the "unprecedented" number of complaints over the conduct of the 2004 polls.

According to him, both the courts and police do not have the capacity to provide broad redress the electoral blunders that occurred.

Param also disagreed with calls from certain sectors for the resignation of EC chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, adding the members of the EC, like judges, are insulated by the security of tenure to provide for their independence.

Among the numerous complaints lodged over the messy electoral conduct included a police report by EC secretary Wan Ahmad Wan Omar over the misprint of ballot papers for the Sungai Lembing state constituency in Pahang.

But the most common complaint came from registered voters who alleged that their names were not on the electoral roll, despite having voted in their constituency in the past.

Nowhere was this more stark than in Gombak, Selangor, where polling agents alleged that "hundreds" of names were missing from the roll, and EC officers were nowhere to be found.

Scores of others were caught out when they found that, while their names were on the roll, they still could not vote as the EC failed to assign them to voting streams, a procedure that ensures voters can obtain a ballot at their polling stations.

Polling hours in certain Selangor constituencies were extended following this, but political parties from both sides of the divide claim the EC's announcement was improperly done and was made at the last minute.

Some also alleged that they were transferred, without their knowledge, to other constituencies and even other states. Malaysiakini independently confirmed some of these complaints.

Most recently, PAS and Keadilan publicly denounced the election results on grounds that the polls were conducted in a highly "questionable" manner; which included the EC allegedly distributing "three versions" of the voters' list.