UNDECIDED ON POLLS

DAP yet to confirm whether CEC re-election will be held, says sec-gen

DAP has yet to confirm whether or not it will hold a re-election for its central executive committee (CEC) as demanded by the Registry of Societies (RoS).

Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng yesterday reiterated the party’s claims that the RoS’s statement regarding its 2013 CEC re-election was false.

“We are stunned by the decision of RoS to ‘advise’ us for the re-election of the 2013 CEC members, which is based on totally false and unfounded reasons. We reiterate that DAP is not afraid of holding any party elections.

“In the meantime, we will make efforts to meet with RoS to discuss the way forward,” he said at the DAP headquarters yesterday.

In 2013, RoS had ordered a reelection of DAP’s CEC after it found irregularities and manipulation of votes by the party in its initial election in December 2012.

After the re-election, some party members claimed that they were denied the right to attend the party congress as delegates.

In a statement earlier this month, RoS director-general Datuk Mohammad Razin Abdullah instructed DAP to hold a reelection of its CEC, saying that it was necessary as the election of CEC members and key positions via a re-election on Sept 29, 2013 was deemed unlawful.

Lim said RoS’s statement that there were eligible delegates for the DAP CEC re-election held in 2013 and who were denied their rights to vote was false.

He said the number of delegates who were eligible to attend was exactly the same as its initial 2012 election.

He added that it was confirmed by independent auditors who witnessed the 2013 re-election.

The Penang chief minister claimed that RoS’s statement, which said that there was a discrepancy between the number of eligible delegates, was untrue.

“There were 751 eligible branches in 2012. The same 2,576 delegates from the same 751 eligible branches were notified of the 2013 CEC re-election. There were a total of 985 branches in DAP in 2013. However, only 751 branches with 2,576 delegates were eligible to vote in the 2013 re-election. There were never 865 eligible branches for the 2012 CEC election.”

Lim questioned RoS’s decision, which he claimed was a “fictitious report”.

He added that DAP had several options, including holding the reelection under protest or mounting a legal challenge against RoS’s decision.

“We hope that in the interest of justice and fair play, the registrar can act responsibly and professionally to meet us soon,” he said, adding that DAP had made efforts to meet up with RoS since Monday.