The changing of voters’ districts due to the EC’s `correction’ of the voting district boundaries could cost Tan Sri Khalid his CM post: according to election law an Assemblyman has to be a resident of the constituency he compete in-or at least has an address there. If Tan Sri Khalid’s address has been changed to KL he lost the Selangor address and therefore disqualified even to stand as a candidate in Selangor! Without being an elected Assemblyman in Selangor he also cannot be a Selangor CM. He does has a problem to sort out -and sort out soon!
Ambiga: ‘Bersih 3.0’ necessary if electoral reforms fail
KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — A “Bersih 3.0” rally may be necessary, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan has cautioned Putrajaya, pointing to lagging polls reforms and reports of a sudden surge of voters in some parliamentary constituencies.
The Bersih 2.0 chairman said that “a long time” has passed since last year’s July 9 rally but Malaysians have yet to see significant polls reforms implemented, some of which could be done without the recommendation of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms.
The PSC was formed last year to address concerns over the country’s election system after the Najib administration earned international condemnation for its handling of the Bersih 2.0 rally.
“Looking at the way things are going now, we may have no choice.
“Do not rule out Bersih 3.0,” Ambiga (picture) told The Malaysian Insider.
“We have not seen electoral reforms; instead we see more and more irresponsible acts taking place… political violence.
“If the government is not serious about electoral reform the public will have to make itself heard,” she said.
Thousands of Malaysians took to the streets on July 9 to join Bersih 2.0’s rally for free and fair elections but the protest turned ugly at midday when riot police launched tear gas canisters and water cannons to disperse participants.
The widespread clampdown, which saw more than 1,000 people arrested even before the rally, earned the Najib administration a whiplashing in the international media.
Under pressure, the government then promised a slew of reform measures, which included the formation of the PSC and the enactment of the highly-criticised Peaceful Assembly Act last year.
But Ambiga remained tight-lipped when pressed for details on Bersih’s plans for a future rally, saying she would not want to divulge details yet.
“We are waiting for the government, giving them time… I will make an announcement at an appropriate time.”
The lawyer said Bersih was very concerned about reports of an alleged surge of voters in some constituencies as well apparent altering of polling districts.
“There must be a rational basis for it. Why were voters not told? Was it gazetted as required? This, and other reports of registration of foreigners, is of concern.
“Also, why are the reasonable demands of Bersih not being implemented when it can easily be done even without the PSC report?
“Above and beyond everything else the public must have confidence in the electoral processes and in the integrity of the electoral roll… right now there are more questions than answers,” she said.
PKR has claimed 31,294 voters have been moved into neighbouring constituencies illegally, and that locality revisions must obtain a two-thirds majority of Parliament.
PKR vice-president Fuziah Salleh raised the issue at a press conference earlier this week after it was revealed that the party’s Selangor mentri besar had been moved from Petaling Jaya Selatan to Lembah Pantai.
Election Commission (EC) deputy chief Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar had responded by saying Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s address has not been changed but the locality had been corrected according to the Election Act, putting his Section 16, Petaling Jaya home in Kuala Lumpur instead of Selangor.
Fuziah said that the Election Act did not allow border revisions to move voters from one constituency to another, but only to realign localities and polling districts within a constituency for administrative purposes.
The Kuantan MP added the PSC on electoral reforms had told the EC it could not move constituency borders when the panel was in Penang to obtain public feedback.
She said the 31,294 voters moved illegally were tabulated after checking electoral rolls from the March 2008 election up to the September 2011 gazette.
Wan Ahmad also said the EC had frozen all “locality correction” exercises last year as political parties were exploiting the confusion.
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