A combined interim report from think tanks Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) and Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), who were accredited local observers of the 13th general election, has described the polls as "partially free, but not fair".

"Our benchmark was based on the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) declaration on free and fair elections.

NONEAs Malaysia is an IPU member and the declaration was passed unanimously, we believe that Malaysia is committed to the declaration," said Ideas CEO Wan Saiful Wan Jan (left) when presented the joint interim report at a press conference in Putrajaya today.

On the whole, they found the technical conduct of the Election Commission (EC) in conducting the polling process to be quite efficient and effective.

There were flaws and irregularities, but in the whole, the conduct of the electoral process on nominations, campaigning, polling and results declaration were by the book and proper, with no really serious breaches of protocol that can be observed to skew the polls process.

However, they believe that the election was "less than free and certainly not fair" because:

  • BN-biased media coverage;
  • Misuse of government facilities by the BN;
  • Handouts to the electorate;
  • Institutional bias fro the incumbent ruling coalition by agencies like the Registrar of Societies;
  • Uneven constituencies;
  • Ethnic issue exploited for partisan purposes;
  • The non transparency of electoral funding;
  • And the problematic integrity of the electoral roll had made.

"While anyone can physically go to vote and everyone is free to contest and vote for whoever they want, severe flaws affected the quality of information available to voters to make an informed decision.

While they are free to vote, the quality of available information limits their freedom of choice," said Wan Saiful.

The interim report was presented to the media after both think-tanks presented their findings to the EC earlier this morning.

A final report with their recommendations to the EC will be ready soon and will also detail the election management body's response to the report.

What next for both NGOs?

Asked on what is next for both NGOs, the joint team said that first and foremost is for them to inform the public of their findings, in the hope of raising public awareness over serious concerns that affect our electoral system.

NONEAfter which, they hope to work with the EC, the government, other agencies and the public to change our electoral system for the better.

A copy of the report can be downloaded from both the CPPS and Ideas websites.

CPPS and Ideas were two NGOs picked to observe the recently concluded 13 general election.

The joint study was conducted using 325 recruited observers, monitored by a central secretariat and state level coordinators.

There had been 311 observers who were deployed in the peninsula, and 14 overseas for polling in Malaysian missions.

The Ideas-CPPS team was not involved in monitoring electoral proceedings in Sabah and Sarawak as a different set of observers were appointed there.