TheStar reports:PUTRAJAYA: The Master Electoral Roll (MER) to be used for the general election is free of the names of voters who had died.
The roll containing the names of 10,922,139 voters who died up to Dec 31, last year, was gazetted on Feb 5.
Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor said it had removed the names of 697,902 voters who died between Jan 1, 2004 and Dec 31, last year.
He said the commission was mindful that there were registered voters who died between Jan 1 and March 7, this year.
“The general election laws do not allow EC to remove the names of the deceased from the Master Electoral Roll. Their names will be exhibited in April for public viewing,” he said when commenting on the confusion among Opposition parties.
“Political parties and independent candidates need not worry as claims that some people will be voting in place of dead registered voters are baseless.”
The roll containing the names of 10,922,139 voters who died up to Dec 31, last year, was gazetted on Feb 5.
Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor said it had removed the names of 697,902 voters who died between Jan 1, 2004 and Dec 31, last year.
He said the commission was mindful that there were registered voters who died between Jan 1 and March 7, this year.
“The general election laws do not allow EC to remove the names of the deceased from the Master Electoral Roll. Their names will be exhibited in April for public viewing,” he said when commenting on the confusion among Opposition parties.
“Political parties and independent candidates need not worry as claims that some people will be voting in place of dead registered voters are baseless.”
NST Report:ELECTION 2008: 8,666 voters aged over 100 still listed on electoral roll
PUTRAJAYA: There are 8,666 voters who are more than 100 years old in the country.
Sabah has the highest number, 2,096, followed by Sarawak (1,458), Johor (976), Perak (959), Selangor (549), Penang (442), Pahang (397), Federal Territory (367), Kedah (356), Negri Sembilan (328), Kelantan (249), Malacca (233), Terengganu (150), Perlis (60) and Labuan (46).
They are among the 10,922,139 voters nationwide.
EC secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor, who provided the figures to the New Straits Times at his office yesterday, said the names of these voters were on the electoral roll for 2007, gazetted by the EC on Feb 5.
"As far as the EC is concerned, as of Dec 31 last year, these voters are still alive. "That is why their names are on our electoral roll.
"If they died in January or February this year, their names will still be on the electoral roll.
"We can only take out their names once we gazette the electoral roll in the first quarter of this year, that is on March 31."
PUTRAJAYA: There are 8,666 voters who are more than 100 years old in the country.
Sabah has the highest number, 2,096, followed by Sarawak (1,458), Johor (976), Perak (959), Selangor (549), Penang (442), Pahang (397), Federal Territory (367), Kedah (356), Negri Sembilan (328), Kelantan (249), Malacca (233), Terengganu (150), Perlis (60) and Labuan (46).
They are among the 10,922,139 voters nationwide.
EC secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor, who provided the figures to the New Straits Times at his office yesterday, said the names of these voters were on the electoral roll for 2007, gazetted by the EC on Feb 5.
"As far as the EC is concerned, as of Dec 31 last year, these voters are still alive. "That is why their names are on our electoral roll.
"If they died in January or February this year, their names will still be on the electoral roll.
"We can only take out their names once we gazette the electoral roll in the first quarter of this year, that is on March 31."
Panel: No fear of phantom votersThe email, which is widely distributed, contains names of people born before 1900 but still registered as voters.
A check by the New Straits Times with the Election Commission's website confirmed the five mentioned in the email were still registered as voters.
Rashid said the commission had sent staff out to check on whether the five people were still alive. Rashid said the five were a fraction of the over-8,000 dead whose status had not been updated by the National Registration Department.
His reason is that "once a person registered as a voter, he or she is registered for life."
"The commission has no power to remove the names just because they are over 100 years old."
"People should not mistrust the EC. But there is really no hanky panky involved," he added.
A check by the New Straits Times with the Election Commission's website confirmed the five mentioned in the email were still registered as voters.
Rashid said the commission had sent staff out to check on whether the five people were still alive. Rashid said the five were a fraction of the over-8,000 dead whose status had not been updated by the National Registration Department.
His reason is that "once a person registered as a voter, he or she is registered for life."
"The commission has no power to remove the names just because they are over 100 years old."
"People should not mistrust the EC. But there is really no hanky panky involved," he added.
TheStar report is thus a bullshit and implies misrepresentation. The EC had admitted there is over 8,000 phantom voters in the gazetted Electoral roll (ER). And the EC had state without reservation that they, the EC had no power whatsoever to remove the names of those dead people who was gazetted as alive. What EC can do is to distribute the names and identity card numbers of voters who died to all election presiding officers. The officers would then mark the names of the deceased in their electoral roll to ensure ballot papers meant for the deceased were not issued.
NOTE: If the officer mistakenly or ignorantly or recklessly or intentionally, issue the ballot papers of the deceased and the vote was casted, who would know; and who is empowered to check each and every ballot and verify; and who can confirm that there wasn't any of this phantom votes casted?
This is the statement from the Election Commission secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor:
[quote]
"Political parties and independent candidates contesting in the general election, therefore, should not worry over the existence of "phantom voters".[unquote]
What does he mean by "don't worry over the existence of 'phantom voters'?
The statement is an acknowledgment and an admission of the facts, that there exists phantom voters in the Electoral Roll. It means the Electoral Roll is defective; it's means BERSIH's objection and appeal to the Yang Di Pertuan Agong is factual,true justified. It also means nothing was done about it and the government and rulers had not acted from the appeal by the citizens to ensure a clean and fair election.
How can the EC give assurance to the citizens that they shouldn't be worried over the existence of phantom voters? A law is a law; the law says the Electoral Roll must be clean to ensure a free and fair election. Who can guarantee that there will not be one ballot paper that had been casted by any one of these phantom and who has the power to verify this is so? The Election Commission said 'they had no power'; so who else have the power? It's the PM but he had not acted; the Agong, but he too was observed to have being silent. Who else?
In fact, the opposition parties can go to the court to seek an injunction to restrain the election process and compel the Commission to clean up the Electoral Roll and supervised by the court.
NOTE: If the officer mistakenly or ignorantly or recklessly or intentionally, issue the ballot papers of the deceased and the vote was casted, who would know; and who is empowered to check each and every ballot and verify; and who can confirm that there wasn't any of this phantom votes casted?
This is the statement from the Election Commission secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor:
[quote]
"Political parties and independent candidates contesting in the general election, therefore, should not worry over the existence of "phantom voters".[unquote]
What does he mean by "don't worry over the existence of 'phantom voters'?
The statement is an acknowledgment and an admission of the facts, that there exists phantom voters in the Electoral Roll. It means the Electoral Roll is defective; it's means BERSIH's objection and appeal to the Yang Di Pertuan Agong is factual,true justified. It also means nothing was done about it and the government and rulers had not acted from the appeal by the citizens to ensure a clean and fair election.
How can the EC give assurance to the citizens that they shouldn't be worried over the existence of phantom voters? A law is a law; the law says the Electoral Roll must be clean to ensure a free and fair election. Who can guarantee that there will not be one ballot paper that had been casted by any one of these phantom and who has the power to verify this is so? The Election Commission said 'they had no power'; so who else have the power? It's the PM but he had not acted; the Agong, but he too was observed to have being silent. Who else?
In fact, the opposition parties can go to the court to seek an injunction to restrain the election process and compel the Commission to clean up the Electoral Roll and supervised by the court.
