The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH2.0) strongly condemns the Election Commission’s (EC) continuing rush on the redelineation process with no regards to due process and principles provided in the Federal Constitution.

The EC Chairman, Tan Sri Mohd Hashim, yesterday announced that the redelineation exercise has been completed and they have presented the final report to the Prime Minister.

This action by the EC is illegal because it has not properly completed the second local enquiry for Selangor. In February, over 250 objections were filed by voters in Selangor, but the EC has only notified and held local enquiries for approximately 50 groups.

As for the other 200 over group of objections, the EC has neither any courtesy nor responsibility to notify them of status of their objections and local inquiries. On the contrary, the EC Chairman had deceitfully made a media commentary recently that the second local enquiries were still ongoing, and similar assertions were made by the Senior Federal Counsel to the Court of Appeal in the Selangor case on 2 March 2018.

The EC has now stoop to a new low, as the announcement of the completion of the redelineation exercise effectively means that they are now even denying the very minimum rights of over 20,000 objectors to be heard on the issues of redelineation, as provided by the Federal Constitution.

As such, BERSIH and a four group of objectors have filed a legal suit against the EC last week, demanding for their local enquiries and their rights to be heard. The EC can expect more legal suits by voters to come as we continue to fight for our rights. We urge the judiciary to fulfil its role in protecting the rights of ordinary voters and not to continue granting “immunity” to the EC against judiciary scrutiny as it has done in the other redelineation and election cases.

It is clear that the EC and Prime Minister are determined to have the new electoral boundaries passed before the upcoming general elections. Now that the final report is in the hands of the Prime Minister, he has unfettered power under Section 9, Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution to make any further changes as he deems necessary before tabling it in parliament. It is certain that the Prime Minister and EC will continue to cheat and force through the redelineation to steal the upcoming elections.

BERSIH2.0 warns Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak and EC Chairman Tan Sir Mohd Hashim that their continuing abuse of power and contempt against voters will not go unnoticed. Voters will ensure that they are punished and made to answer for all their actions. We urge all voters to hold Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak and EC Chairman Tan Sir Mohd Hashim responsible for manipulating, cheating, and destroying the electoral system in Malaysia.

Issue by
The Steering Committee of BERSIH2.0