Read more: News Straits Times

THE Election Commission  is proposing  to increase the “election expenses” from  RM200,000 for every parliamentary constituency and RM100,000 for a state seat and for the statement of expenditure to be audited.

Its chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, said it had been years since  candidates’ “election expenses”,  listed under Section 19 (1) of the Election Offences Act 1954, were last reviewed. “The amount  is no longer relevant. It was fixed a long time ago when the cost of living in the country was lower. “Now, the cost of campaigning is higher,” said  Aziz  yesterday.

He, however, did not mention what the  amount should be. “There must be a study  to ascertain  the new limit. It can be as high as RM500,000 or RM1 million for parliamentary seats and lesser for state seats.”

He said the campaign cost would also rise if the commission agreed to Bersih’s demand for a longer campaign period  of at least  21 days.  Aziz said Malaysia was   behind   other neighbouring countries, including Singapore, which  had increased  their election expenses.

He said the commission would bring this up with the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reforms  this month. “It will be part of  several suggestions on reforms which we will submit to the PSC.” On  auditing,  Aziz said it was necessary  to check  the authenticity of the expenditure statements.

“We want to set up an auditing unit under the commission which will check  all the statements submitted by the candidates.” Under Section 27 (1) of the Election Offences Act 1954, the statement of expenditure must be submitted to the commission’s state election director within 31 days after the election results were gazetted. “Yet, under the current practice, we cannot check  if there are any irregularities in the statement.

“We can only take action against those who did  not submit the statements.” He said with the auditing system,  the commission could   scrutinise  the  expenditure statement. “There may be attempts to cheat by stating the price of chair rental for a ceramah at 50  sen per chair when the market  rate is RM1, or a bottle of mineral water   at 50 sen   when it is sold at RM1.50.”

KUANTAN – Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) semalam memaklumkan pihaknya sudah mengemukakan senarai 12.4 juta pengundi berdaftar kepada Institut Sistem Mikroelektronik Malaysia (Mimos) bagi tujuan pembersihan daftar pemilih.

Pengerusinya, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof berkata, senarai itu dihantar akhir tahun lalu tetapi tidak menetapkan tempoh siap pembersihan itu.

Pembersihan senarai itu, katanya adalah antara 10 cadangan daripada Jawatankuasa Pilihan Khas Penambahbaikan Pilihan Raya (PSC)

“Kita tidak memberikan tempoh tertentu tetapi berharap senarai itu dapat dihantar sebelum laporan awal dihantar ke Parlimen,” katanya selepas menghadiri Majlis Taklimat kepada Pegawai Pengurus dan Penolong Pegawai Pengurus Peringkat Negeri Pahang di Kuantan, semalam.

SPR turut bersetuju melaksanakan enam lagi cadangan termasuk penggunaan dakwat kekal, pengundian awal anggota polis dan tentera, tempoh pameran Rang Daftar pemilih selam 14 hari, dan pemansuhan proses pencalonan dan tempoh penarikan pencalonan.

Beliau berkata, tiga lagi cadangan PSC masih dalam kajian SPR ialah berkaitan pengundi luar kawasan, pertukaran kawasan pendaftar dan pengundi tidak hadir luar negara.

Abdul Aziz turut memaklumkan mengenai kesilapan pengisian Borang A oleh Penolong Pendaftar Pemilih (PPP) menyusahkan suruhanjaya itu.

Justeru, SPR terpaksa menamatkan pelantikan 198 PPP dan 90 lagi diberi amaran.

SHAH ALAM – Institut Kebangsaan bagi Demokrasi dan Integriti Pilihan Raya (NIEI) mengesyorkan agar menetapkan had perbelanjaan parti-parti politik yang bertanding dalam pilihan raya, bukannya hanya memfokus calon.

Syor itu dikemukakan kepada jawatankuasa pilihan khas Parlimen (PSC) yang mengadakan sesi pendengaran awam berkenan kajian semula penambaikan sistem pilihan raya negara ini.

“Buat masa sekarang, kita cuma ada undang-undang berkenaan perbelanjaan pilihan raya setiap calon yang bertanding… jadi kami mencadangkan agar diadakan satu undang-undang yang dapat mengawal perbelanjaan parti, bagi mencerminkan amalan demokrasi sebenar, bukannya gah dengan kekuatan sumber kewangan,” kata ahli Lembaga Pengarah NIEI, Amin Iskandar kepada Sinar Harian Online.

PSC telah mengadakan sesi pendengaran awam secara berperingkat-peringkat di seluruh negara sejak tahun lalu. Laporan akhir dijangka selesai Mac ini.

Di bawah Akta Kesalahan Pilihan Raya, belanja yang lebih daripada maksimum dianggap sebagai perbuatan yang menyalahi undang-undang.

Seksyen 19(1) menyebut, tertakluk kepada apa-apa kecualian sebagaimana yang dibenarkan menurut akta itu, tiada wang boleh dibayar dan tiada belanja boleh dilakukan oleh seseorang calon dalam sesuatu pilihan raya atau oleh ejen pilihan rayanya, selepas tarikh notis mengenai pilihan raya itu disiarkan dalam warta, semasa atau selepas sesuatu pilihan raya kerana atau berkenaan dengan penjalanan atau pengurusan pilihan raya itu, yang lebih daripada RM200,000 bagi kerusi pilihan raya Dewan Rakyat dan RM100,000 melibatkan kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri.

“Undang-undang yang ada sekarang tidak melibatkan parti politik, tetapi individu atau calon-calon yang bertanding,” katanya lagi.

Selain itu, Amin berkata, pihaknya juga mengesyorkan agar Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) diletakkan terus di bawah Parlimen, sebagaimana membabitkan Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) sejak tiga tahun lalu.

“Dulu BPR terletak di bawah Jabatan Perdana Menteri, kini terus di bawah Parlimen, yang mana dapat membantu mengelakkan persepsi rakyat bahawa dikuasai kerajaan.

“Jadi, NIEI juga berharap SPR akan diletakkan terus di bawah Parlimen untuk ia bertindak dengan bebas, dan dilihat bebas,” katanya lagi.

news source:malaysiakini

The interim report by the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms was tabled to the Dewan Rakyat today and a motion to debate the document would be tabled tomorrow.

The document was produced after two rounds of public hearings in Parliament and in Kota Kinabalu.

Salient points of the recommendations are as follows:

RCI on Project IC

• Establishment of royal commission of inquiry to probe allegations of a citizenship-for-votes campaign to alter the voter demographics in Sabah.

Indelible ink

• Indelible ink be used to mark voters to prevent multiple voting.

Postal voting

• Those on duty in remote areas must apply for postal voting.

• Election Commission staff, doctors, nurses and journalists qualify for early voting.

• Absentee voting for all Malaysian citizens residing abroad.

• Inter-state voting for East Malaysians residing in the peninsula be allowed to vote and vice-versa.

Transfer of voting area

• Applications to transfer voting address must include a statutory declaration.

Electoral roll audit

• The PSC recommends Mimos Bhd to perform the audit.

• The audit should target duplicate IC numbers, deceased, voters aged 90 and above, non-citizens and large number of voters in a single address.

• For Sabah, the entire electoral roll needs to be vetted.

Display of electoral roll

• Display period doubled to 14 days.

• Abolish RM10 fee for objections against each voter.

• Abolish maximum limit of voters which can be questioned by a single complainant.

Polling centres

• Removal of serial numbers on ballot papers and retain it on the counterfoil.

• Rearrange desks in polling centres to allow scrutineers to identify voters easily.

• Allow visually impaired voters to choose whomever they wish to mark their ballot papers.

Election Commission

• EC must be allowed to enforce election laws.

• Increase EC resources and make them independent.

• EC must conduct voter education programmes.