“While some inaccuracies can be put down to honest human error given the flawed system, Bersih 2.0 will not rule out intentional tampering as the occurrences of such mistakes are happening repeatedly,” its chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah said.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference at the Bersih 2.0 headquarters, Maria said the electoral watchdog had uncovered many new flaws in the electoral roll which saw voters from the same household registered under different localities, state assembly seats and parliamentary seats.
Maria expressed disappointment in the constant reoccurrence of such errors despite the EC’s claims that it had corrected the electoral roll.
“But in every quarter, new mistakes are discovered alongside existing errors by the Bersih monitoring team.
“The EC’s incompetence casts a dark shadow over the validity and fairness in the present redelineation exercise.”
Also present was Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who said she had sent two formal letters to the EC last December regarding the flaws she had detected in the electoral roll.
According to Fuziah, voters who lived within the Kuantan parliamentary seat were discovered registered in neighbouring constituencies.
She had also found that the EC still gazetted two polling centres at a school despite it no longer being at the address.
“I wanted to meet and discuss with the EC to give my suggestions on improving the existing system. But yet, they refused to see me.
“How did this error happen if it’s not the incompetency of the EC? Or was it planned? Because this is not an isolated incident.”
Fuziah said she had initially chalked these mistakes up to human error, but that the EC’s silence over the matter made her wonder if “there is something the EC is trying to hide”.
“The EC is supposed to be an independent body. But if it acts in such a dubious manner, I cannot dismiss the idea that the EC is no longer an independent body.”