Illegal Voters and Concerns raised following the RCI allegations
NIEI Press Statement:
The
National Institute of Electoral Integrity (NIEI), views with concern on
the recent allegation of Illegal Voters as raised current concern as
raised at the recent session of the Royal Commission Inquiry on Illegal
immigration in Sabah.
NIEI in its 2012 National Voter
Registration Audit report have pointed out on the Likas Election
Petition No.K 11 of 1999 as per the Judgement by Justice Muhammad Kamil
in the year 2000 and the following inclusion of an Ouster Clause Section
9A into the Election Act 1958 as the benchmark over the decline of
public confidence on the veracity and completeness of the Electoral
Roll.
In the ELECTION PETITION NO. K 11 OF
1999 by Datuk Harris Salleh, the President of Bersekutu, have alleged
that the 1998 Election Rolls which were used in the State Election in
March 1999 for N13 Likes Constituency was illegal as it contained the
names of non-citizens and persons who had been convicted for possession
of fake identity cards. It is to be noted that the Likas Judgement is an
Election Petition and parties still have the right to challenge the
result of an election and adduce proof of non-citizen voters in the
Electoral Roll.
It is however to be noted that election
in Malaysia have since became a heavily contested subject due to finding
of Justice Kamil and political parties and organisations have conducted
serious scrutiny on the Electoral Roll and raised many concerns. It
have now become a serious pre-election subject and the concerns raised
by political parties are legitimate due to fear of fraud and its
constant call for a level playing field beside the post election remedy.
NIEI is of the view that the inclusion
of Section 9A have reduced the judicial scrutiny over the complaints and
challenge raised on the existence of illegal voters as Judicial Review
is an important administrative law to supervise and act on Ministeries
and Statutory bodies.
NIEI is of the view that despite the
current process of rectifying the Electoral roll for illegal voters is
satisfactory and as per standards and in recognition of data protection
and right to vote, the pre-election process of seeking judicial
intervention over disputes over the content of the roll as officially
challenged by parties remain silent. Judicial Review is a second chance
for the political parties to review the decision made by the authority
in question on a complaint made.
The current practice is that political
parties have a right to challenge dubious names found in a public
gazette and the Election Commission will call on the person in question
for an inquiry and failing to attend or respond to the inquiry will
result in the name of the person be removed. The concern parties
including citizens also have the right to challenge the result of an
electoral constituency through an Election Petition as per the Likas
precedent.
NIEI views that Section 9A is a
controversial section as it contains both the right to judicial scrutiny
and the right to election as dictated by democracy as a legal challenge
on the Electoral roll on discrepancies and errors carries the risk of
halting the election process for years and without any conclusion due to
the margin of error and continuous changes in the data.
NIEI therefore calls for a review on
Section 9A to include Judicial review on the Electoral Roll’s quarterly
gazzete on allegations of illegal voters as in non-citizens and those
convicted of identity card fraud. The Judicial Review should only be
limited to all official complaints and documents submitted. NIEI also
hereby clarify that names and incompleteness in the Electoral roll shall
be treated as an administrative error due to the nature of the
electoral roll that the current administration inherited since
Independence through various systems of documentation and management as
well as changes in laws.
NIEI is of the position that all errors
and incompleteness in the Database shall only be dealt with by the voter
him/herself due to protect 3rd party interference and meddling with the
data that is purely the right of the registered voter due to data
privacy and protection.
We also call for a quicker death
reporting mechanism with direct police to Election Commission reporting
to remove names of death persons as well as a special category of
Missing persons on the Electoral Roll to identify voters who can’t be
found or traced by family member or police. All names of voters on the
electoral roll with the age of 100 and above must be treated with care
due to the lack of death reporting and documentation in the past.
The incompleteness also must be viewed
with care due to the current practice of recording registration forms as
per what submitted by the voter or the party agents who conduct ground
registration.
Please refer to Background document for
details (page: 4 or Download NIEI Voter Registration Audit Report : Full
document available at www.pilihanraya.info)
Recommendations
NIEI in its 2012 report recommended a
Database Department at all Local Council Department and village Head as
the primary registrar to register, maintain and manage the electoral
roll with power to regularly inspect and edit the roll regularly on
changes in address and voting location as well as deceased voters before
a final gazette of the electoral roll. The Election Commission shall be
responsible to gazette the final electoral roll maintained by the
Database Department. The EC shall also serve as an oversight and
managing body to train and prescribe procedures and expert assistance to
the Database Department and its officers. NIEI propose a burden and
responsible sharing mechanism to maintain this important and sensitive
national document.
NIEI also calls on to amend the Election
Act 1958 to allow for full gazette of the Electoral Roll and ensure
that the Electoral Roll be disseminated via multiple means including the
internet and to be made available for public inspection with a clear 14
days notice for objection through a Voter Information Notice. The
Notice shall be posted in each locality in every public place and a
personal notice via post to be sent to all senior citizens and disabled
persons. The announcement of the notice, the location of the pasted
notice and the time line and procedure of protest of the posted list
must be announced in the local newspaper and media within a reasonable
time.
NIEI is the process of studying the best
practice for voter registration and management in sensitive areas
especially border states due to likelihood of false registration.
NIEI states that all recommendations and
proposals shall only be dealt with after the 13th General election due
to principle stated in the Electoral-Cycle process that NIEI applies in
its operation. NIEI views that reform and improvement is permanent and
continuous and guided by international standards and objective studies.
All allegations on the issuance of the
fake identity cards were deemed as a criminal act and must be dealt with
criminal investigation and procedure.
Released by
K.Shan
Chairman, NIEI
Background
NIEI Voter Registration Audit Report : Full document available at www.pilihanraya.info
NIEI is its National Audit on the Electoral Roll found a total of 92% of the selected addresses was successfully identified.
Around 8% of few unique cases were found
to be of unidentified addresses such as; the building/ house/
settlement that had been demolished for newly created residences. From
the 92 % of identified voters, around 69% of voters do not reside in
their registered addresses.
The high number of non-resident voters
was due to rapid development and mobility of people and weak voter
transfer mechanism,as well as the existence of voter transfer and
clustered voter registration process by the political parties to
maintain support base and territory. It is also attributed to a high
number of voters as in 53 % who only check their registration status
during election period that is deemed to late for any changes to be
reflected on the Electoral Roll.
Section 9A Election Act 1958. Certified or re-certified electoral roll shall be deemed to be final.
After an electoral roll has been
certified or re-certified, as the case may be, and notice of the
certification or re-certification has been published in the Gazette as
prescribed by regulations made under this Act, the electoral roll shall
be deemed to be final and binding and shall not be questioned or
appealed against in, or reviewed, quashed or set aside by, any court
save that where an election petition has been presented to the High
Court pursuant to section 34 of the Election Offences Act 1954 and where
reliefs claimed include a scrutiny as provided for in subsection 35(d)
of the Election Offences Act 1954, the electoral roll may be subject to
scrutiny by the Election Judge who shall make any order pertaining to
the electoral roll as he deems necessary.
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