PKR POLLS | The PKR election put on hold yesterday will resume in Johor on Sept 30, according to party election committee chairperson Rashid Din.

In a statement issued last night, Rashid said the postponement was necessary to resolve issues related to the newly introduced e-voting system.

"After looking through all the complaints received and receiving feedback from our officers on the ground, the election committee has identified several factors that led to the reported incidents," he said.

Rashid admitted that there was “confusion” over who was eligible to vote, as the election committee officers were unable to carry out a simultaneous verification of their status.

Aside from the higher than expected voter turnout, he also noted that officers on duty lacked the necessary technical support to carry out the e-voting process, despite going through a series of prior briefings, training and simulation exercises.

“This was the main factor that led to the series of unwanted incidents,” his statement read.

Kedah PKR was forced to suspend nine of 15 division elections yesterday after tensions flared among members unhappy with the e-voting system.

Subsequently, the election committee announced in a Seberang Jaya press conference that all polling results from Kedah would be invalidated, while the results from the Penang divisions would be accepted.

This led to a fight breaking out, with one member trying to fend off others with a banquet chair, and another individual throwing a chair as a projectile.

PKR Youth chief candidate Afif Bahardin told Malaysiakini yesterday that some members were not happy with the election committee's announcement.

"They tried to surround the committee, so those in charge of security stepped in, that's when the fighting started," he said.

The election committee also announced that today's Perlis and Perak polls, as well as those in Negeri Sembilan and Malacca scheduled for next weekend, would be postponed.

Penang results are final

Aside from Kedah, it was reported that the results from all 13 Penang PKR divisions were accepted without change.

Tanjong PKR chief Hashim Ismail said, however, he agreed with the calls for the party to suspend the problematic e-voting system.

Among others, he said some members were able to vote twice – the second vote on behalf of an absent member – by requesting assistance to retrieve the person’s personal details stored online.

“There were missing images or names of candidates, and the officer on duty was unable to help when the member’s candidate of choice could not be seen on the display,” he explained in a statement.

Hashim also said that a number of members were unable to retrieve their details from the system, made worse by "unhelpful" election committee officers.

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