The parliamentary seats of Balik Pulau and Nibong Tebal are to come under the watchful eyes of the citizens' election watch coalition Pemantau in the run up to the 13th general election, Pemantau spokesperson Toh Kin Woon said today.

Toh, who is a Bersih 2.0 steering committee member, said Pemantau has limited resources and could only monitor two to three out of the 13 parliamentary seats in Penang.

NONE "The two seats were picked as they were won with marginal majorities in 2008. If we have the resources, we would like to observe the Permatang Pauh seat now held by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim as well," Toh ( right ) said when contacted.

"Based on the narrow margins of 2008, we are anticipating that any tendency for fraud and cheating would be much higher," he added, without naming the suspect parties.

Toh earlier today gave a talk to some 100 people at Pemantau's 13th General Election Workshop held at Han Chiang College.

He was accompanied by Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) deputy chairperson Col (Rtd) Shahrudin Othman and Mafrel technical committee member Hasnah Hashim.

Pemantau is an initiative by Bersih 2.0, Mafrel and Pusat Komas and it aims to enhance the people's interest in free and fair elections as well as mobilise citizen observers during the 13th GE.

In the 2008 general election, PKR's Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusoff obtained 15,749 votes against BN's Dr Norraesah Mohamad, winning by a majority of 708.

NONE In Nibong Tebal, PKR's Tan Tee Beng, who later turned Independent, won the seat with 20,210 votes, beating Penang Umno liaison chief and incumbent Zainal Abidin Osman by a 3,087 majority.

Anwar, the PKR de facto leader, has announced that the party's Penang chief and Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman ( right ) would be fielded in Nibong Tebal. It is not yet certain whether Yusmadi would be retained in Balik Pulau.

Nibong Tebal and Balik Pulau are considered part of the Malay heartland and traditionally Umno strongholds, but PKR broke Umno's hold in 2008.

Election offences observed

Asked when Pemantau would officially begin its election monitoring duties, Toh said "we can start even now".

He added: "We have already observed instances of election offences, for example, the putting up of certain party flags to ask people to vote for that party, which is not allowed now," he added.

Distributing campaign materials without permission from the state election officer or without paying a deposit of RM5,000 in an election for a parliamentary seat or RM3,000 for a state seat is a violation of Section 24B(a) & (b) of the 1954 Election Offences Act.

Meanwhile, Hasnah urged the people to report election offences including "impersonation, bribery and undue influence", saying that this should not occur before the coming general election which is widely expected to be the most hotly contested one since Merdeka.

"Reports from observers will be compiled and sent to the Election Commission. This is the 13th time the country will be holding the general election, and it should be done in a better and more transparent way," Hasnah said.