The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should return the Constituency Redelineation Report submitted to him by the Election Commission on Friday for the Election Commission to rectify failure to fully comply with constitutional requirements and due process.
The Election Commission has been accused of cheating in the redelineation exercise and failure to comply with the various constitutional requirements when conducting review of the delimitation of constituencies.
The Prime Minister must be mindful of international opinion which are most wary about attempts to cheat and steal the 14th General Election to be held shortly.
For instance, an international news magazine, the Economist, published an article in the Leaders Section under the headline: “Stop, thief! Malaysia’s PM is about to steal an election”.
It is a shocking and agonising reflection as to how low Malaysia’s international stocks and standing have fallen in the last few years, after Malaysia had catapulted to the stratosphere of a global kleptocracy.
Malaysia however should not be guilty of double kleptocracy – monetary kleptocracy and electoral kleptocracy!
The Economist article said Najib feared that most voters would not vote Barisan Nasional to power again if given a choice, and that Najib is “taking their choice away” by means of gerrymandering, malapportionment, a fake “fake news” campaign and other undemocratic measures.
Sections 8 and 9 of the Thirteen Schedule of the Constitution which provides for the Election Commission submitting to the Prime Minister its Constituency Redelineation Report did not contemplate the Election Commission violating constitutional requirements and due process when conducting a review of the delimitation of constituencies, in particular the Constitutional requirement that the Election Commission “shall take into consideration any representations duly made” in the constituency delimitation review.
The Election Commision’s action in submitting its Constituency Redelineation Report to the Prime Minister was premature and unconstitutional as it had yet to properly complete the second local enquiry for Selangor.
In February, over 250 objections were filed by voters in Selangor, but the Election Commission has only notified and held local enquiries for 50 groups. The other 200 over objections have yet to be heard.
The 14th General Election is overdue, but this cannot be an excuse for the Election Commission to violate its constitutional mandate to conduct a fair, proper, comprehensive and constitutional review of the delimitation of constituencies and rush to complete and submit its Constituency Redelineation Report in time for the present Parliamentary meeting so that the new constituencies could be used to save the UMNO/BN coalition from electoral defeat and change of Federal government for first time in the nation’s six-decade history.
As the Election Commission has worked outside the framework contemplated by the Malaysian Constitution, the Prime Minister should return the Constituency Redelineation Report submitted to him by the Election Commission on Friday for the Election Commission to rectify failure to fully comply with constitutional requirements and due process.
(Media Statement in Penang on Sunday, 11th March 2018)