Guidelines on election observers set by the Election Commission (EC), including banning them from speaking to the media without the commission's consent, will prevent the watchdogs from performing their duties, warned Pakatan Rakyat.

NONEPKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution (left) said the Pakatan secretariat had called a meeting today to look into the guidelines, and has decided to raise its objections with the EC.

Saifuddin noted that the guidelines ban election observers from observing the ballot counting process, recording “electoral fraud” without EC officials' consent, and speaking to the media.

These also prohibit observers from revealing information to any third party without the commission's consent, communicating with polling and counting agents and EC staff, as well as from being present at the polling centres.

“Apart from that, the EC only allows a maximum of three observers in a parliamentary constituency,” Saifuddin told reporters at PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya today.

The Machang MP described the guidelines as a set of unfair restrictions on the six election monitoring groups.

“This reflects that the EC has no plan to conduct a transparent and fair general election,” he said, adding that Pakatan will request the EC to amend the conditions.

Pakatan to monitor ‘hot seats’

According to Saifuddin, the six groups appointed by the EC as official election observers in the peninsula are Transparency International-Malaysia, pollster Merdeka Centre, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, Centre for Public Policy Studies, the Malaysian Youth Council and Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham).

Proham and election monitoring NGO National Institute for Democracy and Electoral Integrity have already rejected the offer.

Apart from the Malaysian Youth Council, the other four groups are still negotiating with the EC over the restrictions.

azlanSaifuddin also disclosed that Pakatan will carry out intensive monitoring of 'hot seats'.

These are the constituencies contested by top Pakatan leaders, constituencies with a sharp spike in voter numbers, constituencies which had seen vote-buying and chaos in previous elections, and those in which the majority of votes in the last polls was below three percent of the total votes cast.

“ ... if there is no regulating and monitoring (of) these constituencies, there could be vote-rigging, which would affect the electoral results," he said.

Pakatan will discuss in detail as to how to deal with these 'hot seats' at its next meeting, he added.