Bersih 2.0: All hell to break loose with proxy-voting

All hell may break loose and the legitimacy of the next government may be jeopardised if the system of proxy-voting proposed by the Election Commission (EC) is abused.

Painting this dire scenario today, free and fair elections advocacy group Bersih 2.0 warned that all kinds of undesirable situations may arise if the proposal - which aims to empower voters who cannot go to the designated polling stations themselves by allowing other persons to vote on their behalf - is put in place.  

This includes such possibilities, said the group, of Ah Long (loan sharks) forcing their debtors to sign away their ballots and selling these to political parties and employers and other ‘superiors’ pressuring their staff or others in lower positions to sign away their voting rights.

There may even be the case where husbands force their wives - or vice-versa - and parents press their children - or vice-versa - to vote along certain lines.

“Bersih 2.0 urges the EC to withdraw its proposal of proxy voting, warning that all hell may break loose when proxy voting is abused, threatening even the legitimacy of the next government,” said the group in a statement by steering committee members Wong Chin Huat (above) and Maria Chin Abdullah (below) today.

Widespread disenfranchisement through the surrender of voting rights to proxies will erode the legitimacy of whichever parties form the new government and land the nation into political chaos, said Bersih.

“There are already enough allegations of bosses controlling employees’ voting in East Malaysia and under the current postal voting system, coerced proxy-voting in military barracks and police stations,” it pointed out.

The proposal is one of 30 proposed amendments to election laws that the EC hopes to table during the next parliamentary sitting in March.

Reiterating the complaints made by other quarters about the EC’s plans to table the proposed changes, Bersih lamented that the decision was made without consultation with civil society and political parties.

Nothing was raised about the matter in Bersih’s meeting with the EC last November, it said further.

“Bersih also criticises the EC, whose independence is provided for by the federal constitution, for reducing itself to a subordinate body of the cabinet by seeking the latter’s permission for any changes.

“It has failed to fulfill its constitutional mandate and, therefore, not gained public confidence.”

The group said a public forum will be organised later this month on absentee voting reform, which it said is “the real solution to help address the issue of absentee voters”.