June 25, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 (Bernama) — The Election Commission (EC) need not carry out an investigation to find out why some postal votes were not returned and where they were kept.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said that under the existing law, the EC was only responsible for the postal votes that were returned before 5pm.
“For postal votes that were not returned before 5 pm, they were no longer under the jurisdiction of the EC,” he said in his written reply to a question from Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) at the Dewan Rakyat sitting, here Wednesday.
Fong wanted to know whether any investigation was carried out to determine why 72,058 postal votes had not been returned in the last general election and the whereabouts of these postal votes.
Mohamed Nazri said that under the law, once the postal votes were issued, it was up to the voters concerned to do whatever they liked because under the democratic system practised by Malaysia, it was the right of the individual voters whether to vote or otherwise.