PAS Youth has fired a salvo at Election Comission (EC) deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, accusing him of scapegoating the opposition to cover up its misdeeds and to deflect demands by election reform proponents.

“The EC has allowed itself to be dragged by the nose by Umno and BN for a long time, such that when its misdeeds have been exposed to the public, the EC blames the opposition. However, what is demanded by the opposition is merely to improve the election system,” said PAS Youth election director Mohd Sany Hamzan.

The Islamic party also questioned the EC’s lackadaisical attitude and lack of sincerity in implementing election reforms.

“We see that the EC is not sincere in cleaning up the election system but continuously providing excuses to divert the attention of the public away from the weaknesses and incompetence of those managing the elections,” said Mohd Sany.

azlan He also lamented that allegations such as clone voters, vote buying, use of government machinery to campaign for the ruling coalition and abuses in postal voting have fallen on deaf ears.

“We are confident that it is impossible for EC to be unable to detect abuses with its advanced technology. Unfortunately, when the opposition detects any cheating, the EC gives excuses that its system is not up to date and the like,” said the PAS man.

The statement comes after Wan Ahmad launched a broadside against the opposition coalition in a commentary published in Utusan Malaysia yesterday.

The EC deputy chief had accused Pakatan Rakyat of using ‘dirty politics’ and scapegoating the comission to gain support in the next general election.

Irked by the comments, Mohd Sany called on EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and his deputy to retire as they are no longer capable of leading the EC in an independent and fair manner.

The embattled EC has become the centre of controversy after a massive rally for electoral reform was held in Kuala Lumpur on July 9.