EC: No early voting by Police

The claims on social media that advance voting had already started, have been denied by the Election Commission (EC).

It will only be carried out on April 30 for servicemen and police officers.

According to EC secretary, Datuk Kamaruddin Baria said the claimed by a Facebook post that carried a picture of a ballot is untrue.

“We have been unable to manage the distribution of ballots for advance voting. Advance voting will only be conducted on April 30,” said Kamaruddin.

“The photo that has been put up on the social media was never sourced from us,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported there was no directive to members of the Royal Malaysian Police to vote early, as claimed by certain bloggers, said Inspector-General of Police Secretariat assistant head ACP Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.

He said the police would take action against the culprits under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which provides for a maximum one-year jail term or RM50,000 fine, or both, upon conviction.

"To say that the police have been ordered to vote early (April 23) is erroneous," he said at a media conference in the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman here today.

The Election Commission has fixed April 28 for postal voting, April 30 for early voting and May 5 for polling.

Ramli said those who had speculated on postal voting and confused it with early voting would be held accountable for giving misleading information.

Meanwhile, Ramli said Bukit Aman received 245 police reports pertaining to the GE13 yesterday, bringing the total to 632.

He said 1,430 GE13-related activities were carried out throughout the country yesterday, comprising talks (680), gatherings and meetings (219), door-to-door canvassing (44), general campaigns (199) and others (288).

"The number of arrests since nomination day is 22, including two in Perak and five in Negeri Sembilan yesterday," he said, reminding candidates not to campaign at police stations, as what had happened last night.

"The police station is not a place to introduce yourself, we have many other activities that need our attention," said Ramli.