BERSIH TRIBUNAL Independent election observer Pemantau has said that it found incidents of bribery taking place in 45 percent of the constituencies it observed during the 13th general election campaign period.

NONE Its chief Yasmin Masidi ( right ) told the People's Tribunal on GE13 organised by Bersih 2.0 today that Pemantau observed some 51 seats during campaign period, and nearly half of those had incidents of bribery.

"This is a very high number," Yasmin told the tribunal this morning.

The incidents in all the affected constituencies involved giving out of gifts or valuables by political parties or those campaigning to voters.

More interestingly, Yasmin said that Pemantau observers from at least two constituencies have reported that voters were asked to smudge the ballot papers with the indelible ink instead of being given a pen to mark the ballot paper.

“Chances are these ballot papers will get rejected,” she said.

NONE She also pointed out that in 24 percent of the constituencies observed by Pemantau, the indelible ink came off rather easily from the fingers of voters.

In total, Pemantau received 622 initial reports from the public regarding electoral irregularities, but a good 592 of those reports were considered authentic upon the group’s observation.

“Nearly 40 percent of those reports (230 reports) were from those who have registered as first-time voter but their names are not on the electoral roll,” she said.

In its conclusion, the Pemantau report on GE13 noted that the violations of the Elections Act 1954 were very “rampant” during the elections.

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