PKR polls: E-voting stays, says Saifuddin

PUTRAJAYA: PKR will maintain its e-voting system for its polls despite some glitches, said its secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

He said the system which came into use in September went smoothly even though there were some technical glitches on the first day in the Penang and Kedah elections, but these were addressed.

“The elections in Johor, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Wilayah Persekutuan, Selangor and Perlis went smoothly. However, there were some problems in Melaka.

“Therefore, there is no way we will go back to the manual system. Out priority now is system integrity and if there are technical problems, our IT division and programmers will help the Central Elections Committee ( JPP) to overcome them,” he told a media conference here yesterday.

He was commenting on calls by members to revert to the manual system following votes allegedly going missing in five divisions in Melaka and one in Negeri Sembilan on Sunday.

Earlier, Saifuddin, who is also Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, had attended his ministry’s monthly assembly.

On complaints of a spike in membership in the Julau division in Sarawak, Saifuddin explained that it did not only happen there but across the board following the 14th general election.

According to him, from April 1999 to May 9 this year (when the 14th general election was held), PKR’s membership stood at 550,000 but increased to 842,271 as at June 26, an increase of over 300,000 in just over a month. Asked whether the Melaka and Negeri Sembilan polls will be nullified, he said the JPP would be deliberating on it.

He said JPP chairman Datuk Rashid Din had informed him that there were some technical glitches in the five Melaka divisions and the one in Negeri Sembilan.

“When members voted, some (of the votes) were not captured ( by the system)… there were votes that were counted and others that were not.

“The (JPP) will discuss the matter and make a decision. However, it is not serious enough to nullify the elections. They are still trying to get to the bottom of it . But no time frame has been set,” he added. — Bernama