GE14 | Bersih has challenged Election Commission (EC) chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah to an open debate on his claim that elections in Malaysia have "always been clean".

The call by the advocate for clean and fair elections was made in a series of tweets this evening.

"Bersih dares (Tan Sri) Hashim for an open debate on the "transparency" of the election process. This debate must be broadcast live on mainstream media," read one tweet, to which a KiniTV video of Hashim making his reported statement was attached.

A second tweet said, "This is the right time (for debate) since the campaigning process has yet to start."

In the video, Hashim said elections in Malaysia have always been "clean and transparent", and Malaysia's electoral system has been emulated by many other countries.

He said this in an interview earlier this week, during the launch of a joint operations centre with the MACC for members of the public to lodge graft-related complaints.

The EC has on numerous occasions, including recently when announcing Wednesday, May 9, as the polling day for the 14th general election, come under fire from various quarters, for allegedly doing the ruling coalition's bidding.

When contacted, Bersih acting chairperson Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari said the challenge does not come with any conditions attached.

"We are just putting the challenge out there, and suggesting that the mainstream media broadcasts the debate so that the people can watch and judge for themselves.

"However, he (Hashim) is free to dictate his terms, if any, should he agree to the debate, and we will try to accommodate it," Shahrul told Malaysiakini.

According to him, Bersih has "several facts" that it can put up to rubbish Hashim's claims of Malaysia being an exemplary democracy - some of it being from international reports where Malaysia is ranked lowly in electoral-related matters.