In reference to Mavis Puthucheary's letter 'Amendment to electoral roll will erode democratic rights' (July 21), I would like to draw your readers' attention to the salient message in the results of the Likas by-election, which should be alarming to the Elections Commission (EC) and the de facto law minister.

The extremely low turnout (52 percent) and hence apathy of the voters in the Likas by-election clearly demonstrated that the silent majority of Likas voters has completely lost confidence in the electoral rolls which, as found by the court, were massively contaminated with phantom voters.

Unless and until such contamination has been dealt with fairness and transparency, it would be meaningless to participate in the 'phantom' system of elections as administrated by the EC. Any attempt to manipulate the democratic system like the proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit court actions to challenge the legality of electoral rolls would only further erode public confidence in the system.