EC denies curtailing powers of GE observers

The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday denied allegations by PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution that the EC would bar observers from overseeing the vote-counting process during the general election.

EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said such claims were lies fabricated to confuse the people.

Wan Ahmad said the accusation by Saifuddin was baseless and urged the PKR secretary-general to come forward and seek clarification from the EC.

"His (Saifuddin) claims are not correct and I view it as an attempt to confuse the rakyat. The details and information are not correct," he told Bernama after appearing on Hello Malaysia, programme aired by BernamaTV here today.

He said the EC's guidelines for independent observers during the 13th General Election is to ensure the election was carried out smoothly without any problems.

Wan Ahmad said observers would not be allowed to speak to any agents of a party and EC workers at the voting stations to avoid any disruption to their respective work and not allowed to speak to the media so that there would be no manipulation of the facts by irresponsible people.

"They (observers) will be appointed according to the law and under oath. They will not be allowed to communicate with anyone before submitting their observation report to the EC.

"It will not be logical to allow observers to interview EC staff...do not speak if there are not enough facts or details. I challenge Saifuddin to seek clarification from EC," he said.

Saifuddin during a press conference was alleged to have questioned the rationale behind EC's guidelines for observers, claiming such conditions were not reasonable.

Wan Ahmad added that the EC had accredited five non governmental organisations to become observers, namely Merdeka Centre, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), Persatuan Promosi Hak Asasi Manusia (Proham), Transparency International, Centre for Public Policy (CPPS) and Majlis Belia Malaysia (MBM).

However, their duties will only come into force once the Parliament was dissolved.