Postal votes bumped up in Perak
Published: Mar 1, 2011 4:55 PM | Updated: Mar 2, 2011 11:15 AM
The names of a whopping 8,470 new postal voters were inserted into the electoral rolls of six Perak state seats last year, in a move meant to benefit Umno, the state PKR claims.
The names of more than 8,000 postal voters were inserted in the electoral rolls of six state constituencies last year.
The names of a whopping 8,470 new postal voters were inserted into the electoral rolls of six Perak state seats last year, in a move meant to benefit Umno, the state PKR claims.
The party’s deputy elections director Chan Ming Kai (right) said the biggest pool was in the electoral roll for the Pangkor seat, held by Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir.
According to Chan, data from the Election Commission updated last December showed an influx of 5,669 postal voters in the seat.
“The number of postal voters is now almost half of the 26,000 voters there,” said Chan, who did not provide the full data in his statement.
In 2008, Zambry won the seat with a comfortable 5,785-vote majority against a PKR’s Pkhrazi @ Pakhrazi Muda, who polled 5,121 votes.
The Pangkor seat is under the Lumut parliamentary constituency which BN - through MCA’s Kong Cho Ha - won with a wafer-thin majority of 298 votes in 2008.
Chan argued t
hat the influx of postal voters into Pangkor will likely affect Pakatan Rakyat’s chances in wresting the Lumut seat.
“The (sharp) increase is really shocking. Can the naval base in Pangkor take in so many new people. The data shows that only 368 were transferred out.
“There is a possibility that the spouses of military personnel are being categorised as postal voters. I suspect that this is being made compulsory.”
‘Abuse of system’
Citing another example, Chan pointed out that 248 new postal voters were included in the electoral roll for the Sungai Rapat state constituency.
This seat was won with a 636 majority by BN’s Hamidah Osman, who is now a state exco member.
“It is clear that such efforts are to benefit Umno. Chinese-majority seats, such as Canning Garden, which has a military camp, does not have any increase in postal votes,” said Chan.
He suspects that there has been abuse of the distribution of postal voters, and urged the Election Commission and Defence Ministry to explain the situation.
Chan said he fears further abuses of the postal voting system through redeployment of postal voters, ahead of the next general election.
The party’s deputy elections director Chan Ming Kai (right) said the biggest pool was in the electoral roll for the Pangkor seat, held by Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir.According to Chan, data from the Election Commission updated last December showed an influx of 5,669 postal voters in the seat.
“The number of postal voters is now almost half of the 26,000 voters there,” said Chan, who did not provide the full data in his statement.
In 2008, Zambry won the seat with a comfortable 5,785-vote majority against a PKR’s Pkhrazi @ Pakhrazi Muda, who polled 5,121 votes.
The Pangkor seat is under the Lumut parliamentary constituency which BN - through MCA’s Kong Cho Ha - won with a wafer-thin majority of 298 votes in 2008.
Chan argued t
hat the influx of postal voters into Pangkor will likely affect Pakatan Rakyat’s chances in wresting the Lumut seat.“The (sharp) increase is really shocking. Can the naval base in Pangkor take in so many new people. The data shows that only 368 were transferred out.
“There is a possibility that the spouses of military personnel are being categorised as postal voters. I suspect that this is being made compulsory.”
‘Abuse of system’
Citing another example, Chan pointed out that 248 new postal voters were included in the electoral roll for the Sungai Rapat state constituency.
This seat was won with a 636 majority by BN’s Hamidah Osman, who is now a state exco member.“It is clear that such efforts are to benefit Umno. Chinese-majority seats, such as Canning Garden, which has a military camp, does not have any increase in postal votes,” said Chan.
He suspects that there has been abuse of the distribution of postal voters, and urged the Election Commission and Defence Ministry to explain the situation.
Chan said he fears further abuses of the postal voting system through redeployment of postal voters, ahead of the next general election.
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