PMTG PAUH DAP parliamentarian Steven Sim wants the Election Commission (EC) to conduct an investigation on "slanderous" posters against the Penang state government found in Permatang Pauh.

Sim said he found the posters at his operations centre in Bukit Mertajam, and the posters were "defamatory" as well as "full of factual errors".

"I urge the EC to investigate these posters. This is an effort to ruin Pakatan Rakyat’s image," he said during PKR's daily press conference in Permatang Pauh today.

Sim ( right ) added that although there were no names evident on the posters, they could "guess" who were behind them.

The Bukit Mertajam MP, in asking whether the posters were allowed or otherwise, cited Section 11(1)(c) of the Election Offences Act 1954.

The section states that every person who prints, publishes, distributes or posts up any advertisement, handbill, placard or poster which refers to any election and which does not bear upon its face the names and addresses of its printer and publisher will be punished.

On conviction, the person would be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year and to a fine not exceeding RM2,000.

“It is clear that if the posters are distributed, the information contained will only be disadvantageous for Pakatan Rakyat and a gain for Barisan Nasional.

“I hope Permatang Pauh voters reject such slanderous posters,” he said.

Among the messages written on the posters is “(Penang Chief Minister) Lim Guan Eng will not build affordable homes for the Malays for which the federal government had allocated 94 hectares of land”.

The Permatang Pauh by-election thus far has been a ‘tame affair’, what more with candidates from both BN and Pakatan being very reserved in their demeanour.

The set of posters found by Sim is the first for the by-election.