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Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said that in the recently released Quarter 3, 2016 electoral roll update, an astounding 501,799 newly-registered voters were added to the electoral roll from July to September.
The statistics on the number of newly-registered voters for every quarter since the first quarter in 2013, just prior to the last general election (GE13), are as follows: 2016/3rd Quarter had 501,799 newly-registered voters, 2016/Q2 (93,530), 2016/Q1 (88,078), 2015/Q4 (82,146), 2015/Q3 (57,255), 2015/Q2 (70,920), 2015/Q1 (54,388), 2014/Q4 (57,247), 2014/Q3 (31,892), 2014/Q2 (31,998), 2014/Q1 (38,130), 2013/Q4 (21,754), 2013/Q3 (18,693), 2013/Q2 (49,789), and 2013/Q1 (104,959).
“This is more than five times the number of newly-registered voters in Q2, 2016, and almost five times more than the number of newly-registered voters just before the 2013 general elections,” Ong said in a statement today.
He added that there is suspicion that the 11,959 assistant registrars (AR) who are from the civil service had been used to register voters selectively, especially in the marginal parliament and state seats.
According to the 2015 Election Commission Annual Report, the EC appointed a total of 12,160 assistant registrar officers (AROs).
Ong said that of that number, 11,959 or a whopping 98.3% of the AROs are civil servants representing different government departments.
“On the other hand, only 48 AROs (0.4%) are from political parties, 30 (0.2%) from universities, and 123 (1%) representing NGOs.
“With civil servants making up such a large percentage of the AROs, one cannot help but be concerned that some of these AROs from departments such as Jasa, Putrajaya’s propaganda unit, were used to register voters selectively, especially in marginal parliament and state seats,” Ong said.
On that note, he urged the EC to allay public fears by publishing a detailed breakdown of the number of new voters registered by the different groups of AROs – civil servants, political parties, student representatives and NGOs.
“Prior to GE13, when there were many more political party representatives appointed as AROs, the EC used to publish the number of newly-registered voters by political party.
“Hence, there is no reason why the EC cannot continue to disclose this information for all the AROs they have appointed,” Ong said.
He admitted however, that part of the reason for a surge in the number of newly-registered voters could be due to the appeal that went viral on social media for Malaysians who had not voted before to register by Sept 30.
“Many voters visited post offices to register themselves due to rumours that the registration deadline for the next general election (GE14) was Sept 30, following speculation that GE14 will take place early next year,” Ong said.
He did not discount the fact that there was also an increase in voter registration activities, organised by political parties and various NGOs, in cooperation with officials from the EC.
“However, one cannot help but be concerned that the voter registration activities are not being conducted on a level playing field.”
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