COMMENT | I would like to call upon the Election Commission to make several changes to their electoral guidelines to ensure clean and fair elections for the upcoming 14th general election.

Under Article 113(5) of the Federal Constitution, the commission has the power to make rules for the purposes of its functions.

The EC must be resolute in its commitment to stamp out fraud, corruption and bias during an election as voting is a fundamental right of the people of this country.

Independent caretaker government

The EC should ensure that an independent caretaker government is put in place once Parliament is dissolved.

Some of the important tasks of a caretaker government must include ending the use of government machinery and resources for political campaigning, regardless if it is during the campaign period or otherwise.

These offences range from the misuse of vehicles for transportation to government rollouts from development funds.

The commission must take a tough stand against such activity and be ready to enforce the law.

Domestic and international observers

The EC must not limit or be selective of international and domestic observers for the monitoring of the elections. Observers must be allowed to observe the entire process, starting from nomination to polling day and have access to any polling station that they so choose.

During GE13, the observation was considerably restricted. Not only were observers not able to view the postal voting process, they were also limited in the selection of the constituencies that they could observe.

Furthermore, limiting them to three observers per parliamentary constituency is hardly sufficient for them to carry out their tasks.

Meanwhile, domestic observers like Bersih, who had mobilised the largest pool of observers, were not given accreditation as observers.

The last election only accommodated 18 international observers, which came from the Asean countries of Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines, as well as two Asean secretariat members.

These observers had only observed polling day and visited limited, pre-approved polling stations accompanied by election commissioners. In addition, none of their reports was made available to the public.

When it comes to international observers, the EC should adhere to the principle of transparency and also consider inviting international observers from experienced and credible institutions such as the European Union and the Commonwealth.

There should, therefore, be open and public applications for accredited observers, both international and domestic.

The EC should allow observers the time and resources to get organised and observe the pre-election (such as candidate and, if possible, voter registration) and the post-election phases including counting of the votes, consolidation of the results and resolution of major disputes.

The commission has to ensure that the observers are themselves qualified and trained while they should be allowed to observe the electoral process as thoroughly as necessary to be able to make credible judgments.

Proactive role to prevent election offences

I would also like to stress the need for the EC to ensure appropriate enforcement is maintained especially for election offences.

The EC should never turn a blind eye to violence during the campaign. Any bullying or intimidation towards voters, candidates or members of the EC themselves during the elections should be met with severe punishment.

Moreover, the EC must practice vigilance when it comes to vote-buying. This problem takes many forms including loans, cash or gifts like 'kenduri' and travel allowances. As mentioned earlier, the misuse of government machinery during the elections should also be stamped out.

Allow the presence of polling and counting agents for postal and advance voting

When it comes to voting procedures, polling agents should be allowed the opportunity to observe both overseas and domestic postal voting and advance voting (including the distribution of ballots) without restriction.

Advance voting procedures should also be changed so that the votes are counted on the same day they are cast. This would ensure the safety of these ballot boxes which are currently kept for five days before they are counted.

The commission should also consider that a copy of Form 14 be signed by Polling and Counting Agents (Pacas); while copies of the form should be given to the agents present.

This would increase transparency and lend the results more credibility.

The EC must not change the process according to their whims and fancies by having the simultaneous counting of ballots for both parliament and state seats.

Ballots for parliamentary and state seats should be counted sequentially so as to avoid having to double up counting agents.

Limit identity checks to their ICs only

Better enforcement is also needed when it comes to restricting the usage of various identification cards and tags during voting. Voters should only be allowed to cast their vote if they have their national identification cards.

The current practice of using driving licenses, government and media tags, etc., poses a serious security risk and could easily lead to voter fraud and abuses.

The EC must not compromise when it comes to upholding its constitutional duty and responsibility to maintain free and fair elections. It is their duty to protect this very important right of the Malaysian voter.

Therefore, I urge the EC to consider making these changes so as to ensure GE14 is clean and fair.

MARIA CHIN ABDULLAH is the former chairperson of Bersih.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.