General election management system weaknesses must be given due attention - Audit

KUALA LUMPUR: The management of the general election system has been found to be satisfactory in terms of supporting the main function of the Election Commission (EC), however, there are several weaknesses which have to be given due attention, says the Auditor General's Report 2019 Series 2.

According to the audit which was conducted from February to December, several weaknesses in the management of the existing system involving access control, providing back up and service continuity, which should be taken into account in the development of new systems to ensure EC data and system integrity.

"The main finding of the audit which requires attention on the weakness of control at the EC level is that 41 convicts and five mental patients had been registered (new registrations or first time) when they were under detention and treatment.

"In addition, 931 or 0.4 per cent of the 211,215 records of military or police who registered do not have proof of review carried out by EC officers on their civilian identity cards," read the report which was issued today.

The report also mentioned that the process of determining the locality for 24,467 or 0.4 per cent of the 6,310,578 voters had taken more than three months, namely, between three to 96 months.

"Of the total, there was a delay in the entry of 18,833 voters in the Supplementary Electoral Roll (DPT)," said the report.

The report also revealed that a cross check between the Master Electoral Roll (DPI) for the third quarter of 2019 (DPI Q3/2019) and the records of the holders of the identity cards in the National Registration Department (JPN) system in Dec 10, 2020 found 5,753 citizens who were registered as deceased in the JPN record still existed, and were not marked for deletion from the DPI.

However, a follow up audit on DPI Q4/2020 found that the finding had been acted upon via deletion or marked for deletion.

In this regard, the audit suggested that the EC ensured there was efficient data integration between the EC system and other related agencies such as JPN, Ministry of Health, Malaysian Prisons Department, Malaysian Armed Forces, and the police.

It was also recommended that the EC developed an internal integrated system encompassing voter registration, demarcation and progress of general election, with required control measures at every level of input and output, identity card control and security, while service continuity management should be taken into account in the development of the new system.

-- BERNAMA