The first suit was filed on March 8 before the EC handed over the final report of the boundary changes to the prime minister, and the second on March 20 after the report was submitted.
Speaking at a press conference today, the acting chairman of Bersih Sharul Aman Mohd Saari said the EC had failed to conduct a local inquiry for the groups of objectors although they had sent in their protests.
“The refusal and failure of the EC to conduct a public investigation for this group of objectors has denied almost 10,000 voters the fundamental right to be heard,” he said.
He said the EC had not been responsible in failing to inform them of the status of the inquiry despite two official letters sent on Feb 28 and March 12.
He said they only learned on March 9 through the EC’s media broadcast that the EC had completed the redelineation process and submitted the final report to the prime minister to be tabled in Parliament.
Sharul said the report would be invalid if tabled in Parliament as the second local inquiry for Selangor has yet to be completed by the EC.
Also present at the press conference was former Bersih chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, newly appointed Bersih executive director Yap Swee Seng, DAP Subang Jaya assemblywoman Hannah Yeoh, Sri Andalas PKR assemblyman Dr Xavier Jayakumar and several objectors.
Stop manipulation through redelineation
Sharul said nearly 20 cases to challenge the redelineation had been filed in court without success.
He said Bersih was strictly objecting to the EC and prime minister’s haste in attempting to pass the electoral boundary changes without respecting the process and principles in the Federal Constitution.
Maria also voiced her disappointment with the court for not stopping the redelineation process even though so many cases had been filed.
She pointed to the High Court ruling yesterday which dismissed the second attempt by Segamat voters to challenge the EC’s decision to gazette the names of 949 army personnel and their spouses as voters in the parliamentary constituency.
She said it seemed as if they could never win despite everything they had done.
She also urged the people to come out and vote on polling day to defeat what she called the “EC’s fraud”.
Segamat voters fail again to remove army men from electoral roll