DAP will lead the opposition in a bid to impeach Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman and his commissioners over the most 'disgraceful, chaotic and unfair' general election in the nation's history.

In a press statement today, party chairperson Lim Kit Siang said he has given Parliament notice of this motion of no-confidence and urged the House to set aside one day in its second week of meeting to debate it.

This year's Parliament session will commence next Monday.

Lim said he had informed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of his motion yesterday and asked the government to agree for time to be set aside for a debate and for members to cast their votes.

The Parliamentary opposition leader and Ipoh Timor MP had met the premier to discuss about parliamentary reforms and modernisation.

The EC and its helmsman had come under intense criticism over the irregularities that riddled the March 21 election.

Ballot mix-ups, missing names, wrong gender specification were among the many fiascos that tainted the polls, prompting opposition parties and other quarters to call for a re-election.

Opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) had also filed a lawsuit against the commission over its conduct of the polls.

The general election saw the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) returned to power with a overwhelming majority and the opposition massacred, except for DAP, which performed credibly. The party won 12 parliamentary seats, two more than the 1999 polls.

PRO criticised

Meanwhile, Lim also took Parliament public relations officer Ishak Momin to task for ignoring the motions forwarded by opposition MPs when he announced the Order Paper yesterday.

"The Parliament PRO has committed the parliamentary sin of equating parliamentary business only with government business, not understanding that parliament business must include both government and opposition business.

"As a result, when announcing the Order Paper, Ishak completely ignored the motions which opposition MPs had given notice, including the impeachment motion against the EC chairperson and other commissioners," he said.

Lim said DAP MPs have submitted a total of 12 motions. The party's Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan submitted three motions on the national service programme, including a motion to seek leave for the House to move a private member's bill to repeal the National Service Training Act 2003.

DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok submitted seven motions ranging from local government elections to education matters while the party's Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lin submitted a motion calling for expeditious issuance of strata titles in Kuala Lumpur.

"The new Parliament which convenes on Monday is unprecedented in Malaysian parliamentary history with the weakest opposition representation - as the BN commands over 90 percent or parliamentary seats, which had never happened in the past elections.

"BN MPs must be conscious of their responsibility because of their unprecedented overwhelming numbers to speak up courageously against what is wrong, unfair and detrimental to the healthy growth of democracy and good governance," Lim said.