‘Hold national congress, not special one’

SEREMBAN: DAP must hold a national-level, and not a special congress, before the 14th General Election to show that the party is transparent.

Former Bukit Emas Seremban DAP secretary S. Vijaiyan Sivanathan said holding a national congress would allow party delegates to raise issues with the Central Executive Committee (CEC).

“Before the re-election, DAP must hold a national congress so that party members can interact with the CEC.

“A special congress will only be open to the CEC, which implies to grassroots members that it has something to hide. It is time the CEC shows that the party is transparent and adheres to the party constitution,” Vijaiyan said yesterday.

In 2013, the Registry of Societies (RoS) ordered a re-election 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 at the time, some party members claimed that they were denied the right to attend the party congress as delegates.

In June this year, RoS directorgeneral Datuk Mohammad Razin Abdullah told DAP to hold a reelection

of the party’s CEC, saying it was necessary as the election of the CEC and key positions via the re-election on Sept 29, 2013 was deemed unlawful.

RoS said last month that the reelection would be based on the 2012 delegates list. DAP had announced that it would hold a special congress on Nov 12.