Why did the Election Commission (EC) provide draft electoral roll copies in the past, if it is not required by law to provide it?

This was the question raised by Amanah lawmaker and lawyer Hanipa Maidin, in response to the EC's justification to stop providing the draft electoral roll to political parties.

“If your position is that you are not required by the law to do so, why did you provide them previously?” asked Hanipa.

He also pointed out how it has been the convention for the EC to provide the draft rolls.

“If the law is silent on the right for us to get the draft rolls from EC, the law is also silent on the prohibition for the EC to do so,” he told Malaysiakini. 

Meanwhile, citing Article 114(2) of the Federal Constitution, Hanipa pointed out how members of the EC must enjoy public confidence which includes conducting free and fair elections.

“EC has the constitutional duty to conduct free and fair elections. Giving the draft electoral roll to political parties to participate in the election is part and parcel of free and fair elections.

“If you want to enjoy public confidence, you must not only conduct free and fair elections, you must be seen to conduct free and fair elections,” he stressed.

According to Hanipa, the constitution therefore mandates the EC to provide the draft rolls as it is the only way to challenge them. Section 9A of the Elections Act states that a roll cannot be challenged once it is gazetted.

“You possess the electoral roll, if you refuse to share it with stakeholders, this is tantamount to conducting an unfair election,” he stressed.

Lawyer Andrew Khoo, too, questioned why the EC had stopped providing the draft rolls when it had been doing so in the past.

“More information is always better than less information.

“If going by past practice that they have been able to give out soft copies to political parties, I don't see why in the interest of transparency that they are now saying they are not legally obliged to do so,” he said to Malaysiakini. 

On the other hand, co-chairperson of Bar Council's human rights committee Firdaus Husni admitted that the law does not require the EC to provide copies of the draft electoral roll.

She cited Rule 13 of Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002, which provides that a revision to the electoral roll is to be opened for inspection at certain hours at the registrar's office and places specified.

"So yes, the law does not expressly provide for copies to be provided.

"Notwithstanding, to ensure free and fair elections, it is good practice to enable public access to secure public confidence and maintain integrity of the electoral process specifically the electoral roll," she said.

Meanwhile, former EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof told Malaysiakini that the EC was “perfectly correct” in stating that it was not required to provide the draft rolls.

A legal expert on election laws who declined to be named echoed this, stressing there was nothing under election rules or laws requiring the EC to provide copies of the draft roll.

“There is only a provision for the EC to provide a gazetted one.”

He also argued that only those who were affected from errors contained in the draft electoral roll should do the checking.

“So why are political parties making noise? They are not privy to it.”

Responding to Hanipa and Khoo, who had questioned previous practice of providing the draft electoral roll, he said this was done to assist political parties as they had acted as the EC’s assistant registrars in registering voters.

“Political parties are not privy to it anymore as they were terminated from assisting the EC in carrying out the registration process,” he explained.

Apart from this, the EC’s decision does not only affect political parties but all quarters, he pointed out.

“Under election laws and when there is no provision for certain issues to be handled, the prerogative is for the EC to decide, as long as it is not against the law”.

The opposition, he told Malaysiakini, was simply making noise for “political mileage and to confuse the public”.

Confirming the EC’s move, the commission’s secretary Abdul Ghani Salleh last month cited regulation 13 of the Election Regulations which states that the draft electoral roll has to displayed at a gazetted public area for 14 days.

As interested parties can still view the roll, the new directive does not restrict access, he had said.

The commission had previously provided the draft rolls in soft copy format to political parties.

Opposition parties have complained that the EC’s move would hamper efforts to scrutinise the voter list.