The Election Commission (EC) has refused to respond to the Electoral Integrity Project (EIP) report which ranked Malaysia as among the worst countries in the world for electoral integrity, on the grounds that the survey conductors did not interview the commission before publishing the report.

EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusoff told Malaysiakini briefly that he would not be responding to the report as they “did not interview the EC”.

The report had ranked Malaysia as the worst country in terms of electoral boundaries and among the worst for electoral law, among others.

Malaysia merely scored 28 out of 100 in electoral boundaries and 33 out of 100 in electoral laws, making it among the worst five countries in the world for electoral laws.

All 127 countries surveyed were measured on electoral laws, electoral procedures, district boundaries, voter registration, party and candidate registration, media coverage, campaign financing, voting process, vote count, results, and election authorities.

Analysing Malaysia in greater detail, EIP’s University of Sydney researcher Max Gromping said malapportionment and “other irregularities” have been said to be the reason for BN's victory.

“In particular, rural constituencies - traditionally strongholds of the ruling party - are advantaged compared to urban ones,” he wrote in Australia National University’s journal The New Mandala .

“Electoral reform has stalled, perhaps due to the stark polarisation of the electorate.”

The EIP is based in Harvard University and the University of Sydney.