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Anwar to EC: Take heed, the people are watching
Published:  Apr 13, 2018 12:46 PM
Updated: 8:13 AM

GE14 | Jailed PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has a warning for the Election Commission - the people are watching your every move.

In a statement, the former opposition leader said several recent contentious decisions made by the EC have enforced the people’s doubts over its ability to function as a transparent, fair and independent body.

Anwar raised the issue of the fixture of polling day on a Wednesday, claiming this was “clearly an attempt to prevent voters, especially those who work in far away districts, to return home to vote”.

He added: “Secondly, a campaign period of 11 days is among the shortest in the world. Umno-BN has been allowed to campaign from early on, using the media, including official government media.”

He further questioned the EC’s intention in disallowing voters who have registered earlier this year from voting in the coming election.

“With the advancement in technology, and a fund of RM500 million allocated to the EC, what is the problem in using the (voter) list of up to March 2018? Many young people registered earlier this year,’ Anwar’s statement read.

Similarly, he raised the matter of the countries invited by the EC to serve as international observers, countries, he said, with a reputation for questionable practices in handling their own elections instead of those with a more “honest” reputation, such as “India, Indonesia, Turkey and the Philippines”.

Following the announcement of the election dates, the EC stated that it had invited 14 countries as international observers to observe the 14th general election.

Those that have confirmed their participation are Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives, Timor Leste, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan.

Of the seven, only one - Timor Leste - is ranked higher than Malaysia in notable democracy rankings.

In light of all these, Anwar advised the EC to take heed of the people, for they would be paying close attention to the conduct of the general election.

“I must stress, the people are observing their (the EC’s) actions. Social media will be fully utilised to observe and evaluate their work. Is the EC prepared to carry out the duties entrusted to them freely, honestly and justly?” he asked.

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