The parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms has failed to address the much-needed overhaul of the system, said members of the opposition on the committee.

azlan The Pakatan Rakyat representatives today complained that fundamental concerns on the election system remain unsolved, the most pertinent being the lack of measures to clean up the electoral roll.

Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak), Anthony Loke (DAP-Rasah) and Dr Hatta Ramli (PAS-Kuala Krai) said today they have filed a motion under Standing Order 30(1) urging for the PSC report distributed to parliamentarians to be amended.

“What’s disappointing is, during our last meeting on March 28, while finalising the recommendations in the final report, our suggestions were not taken into account.

Core issue not included in report

“We suggested that a minority report be attached to the final draft that will give a more detailed explanation on the fundamental issues related to the electoral roll which the Election Commission (EC) is still yet to clean and also other related issues,” said Azmin at a press conference in parliament house.

The PSC report which will be tabled tomorrow has 22 recommendations zoned in by the nine-person committee who deliberated for about six months on various contentions affecting the election system.

“That is the central issue now. We tried our level best to push for total election reform based on input from public hearing sessions and memorandums from civil society,” he added.

NONE Azmin said the PSC chairperson Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus Ongkili chose several topics to be included, but not the core issue.

“The proposal is such that the speaker can take note of our intention to amend the motion to be tabled on the PSC report, to attach a minority report to it which will elucidate the core objectives that the PSC was suppose to study and improve upon to ensure a clean and fair election,” he said.

The PSC report also clearly proves the EC’s failure to guarantee that the electoral roll will be free from irregularities.

“The EC had promised to remove (dubious) names but they gave a ready excuse that they have no powers to delist the names.

“To me this is just a lie because provisions under the election rules provide the chief registrar with discretion,” said Azmin, adding that the EC cannot continue giving “irresponsible reasons”.

Asked if they had confidence whether the motion to attach the minority report will be accepted, Hatta said: “I don’t want to jump the gun. We have full confidence in the speaker. We will discuss further action only after speaker had made a decision.”