EC, you’ve got mail

Postal voters racing against time keep post offices around the country busy.

PETALING JAYA: The Election Commission (EC) has urged the public not to fall for fake news being shared on social media.

EC chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said among the fake news being shared were the counting of early voting ballots in a few polling districts, postal voters’ ballots being waxed, ballot paper marking method, travel claims according to mileage travelled and a black mark on the ballot paper.

“It is not true that postal voters’ ballot papers were waxed on a specific candidate’s column to make it difficult for voters to mark on it.

“Until now, we have not received any complaints on that allegation,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Mohd Hashim also clarified that every ballot paper printed was thoroughly checked to ensure that there was no dirt on it such as a black dot mark.

He added that voters should mark a cross sign on the column of any candidate that they chose, as long as it did not extend into the column of another candidate.

Mohd Hashim also said claims that voters could get reimbursement for mileage ranging from RM10 to RM1000 at the District Office were not true.

“The EC did not release any such statement that will allow voters to make such claims according to the distance travelled when voters go back to vote,” he said.

Earlier, Bernama reported in Sepang that Mohd Hashim urged the candidates’ agents on duty on polling day to submit fair reports to their parties on the election process.

He said there were too many issues which had gone viral on the election process when it was actually being monitored by the agents appointed by the candidates and their political parties.

“I urge the agents to provide their respective parties with the correct information on the election process at the places they have been stationed. Do not make up stories.

“If the political parties feel there is a problem at a particular place, they can contact their agents for confirmation,” Mohd Hashim told reporters after welcoming international observers at the KL International Airport yesterday.

These observers from Thailand and India were the second group to arrive in Malaysia to monitor the GE14 process tomorrow.

The first group arrived from Maldives in the morning.

“The EC is not a political party and only has a role in managing the election as fairly and transparently as possible,” said Mohd Hashim.

He had said in a previous statement that the election process for GE14 would be monitored by more than 200,000 agents of the candidates or political parties.

They would be divided into several categories, namely election agents, booth agents, polling station agents, counting agents, postal voting agents, agents for opening the postal vote envelopes and agents for counting of postal votes.

The EC is not a political party and only has a role in managing the election as fairly and transparently as possible.

Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah