The Election Commission (EC) might invite election observer groups to monitor the 14th General Election, but only from groups who have invited them as observers previously.

“You have to remember, every year there are countries who have elections. Some invite us, and others do not.

“Even if we want to invite, (we will invite) those who have invited us. Those who have never invited us, what do we want to invite them for?

“If we want to find someone to invite, there are many. Then there will be those who ask why we did not invite them,” the EC chief Mohd Hashim Abdullah said in a press conference at the EC headquarters today.

He was responding to a question on whether the EC would invite international election observer groups, such as the European Parliament, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) or the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel), to monitor the upcoming 14th General Election.

When pressed further on whether inviting election observer groups from other countries the EC has observed would constitute a conflict of interest, he merely said, “No, this is how it should be.”

Hashim said that when he goes to other countries to observe their elections, he is a neutral party.

He observes good habits the other countries are practicing with regards to elections and also provide suggestions on how to better their elections, he said.

He also spoke against the definition of a “neutral” group to monitor the elections.

“Who do you want to bring who is neutral? What is neutral to you, might not be to me, and what is neutral to me, might not be to you.

“So please, do not make havoc out of this,” he said.

Voter registration efforts

Previously, Anfrel chairperson Dammy Magbual (photo) had said that election observer groups can help legitimise and improve a country’s election process as they bring about better quality and greater transparency to the election process, among other things.

Anfrel is a regional network of Asian civil society organisations headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand. It runs direct electoral observation programmes and conducts research on electoral reform.

Meanwhile, Hashim is concerned that one of the reasons for low voter registration is misinformation on the registering process.

“I want to give a warning. We appoint assistant registrars, (but) these assistant registrars better not do anything the EC did not tell them to do,” he said.

The EC provides these assistant registrars with a guideline, he said, so they better follow those guidelines.

He said perhaps there are assistant registrars who tell the public to register online even though the EC does not have an online registration system.

“I did not look into this yet, but I worry this is the problem... Give the right information,” he stressed.