Yesterday, the Election Commission Chairman announced that the locality correction exercise – an exercise that changes a voter’s polling station – was gazetted as early as December 2014.
According to his statement, “The polling stations were gazetted before this with the selection criterion being convenience for the voters.”
However, according to our research team, the compact discs (CD) that contain the latest information pertaining to the new voting districts have only just been distributed to the nation’s political parties. In addition, the Supplementary Electoral Roll (RDPT) for the first quarter of 2016 also does not display the list of new voting districts that were recently gazetted.
Evidently, the Election Commission chairman’s statement is far from the truth – this is because new voters who only registered at the end of last year or early this year will only see a list of outdated voting districts, if they try to check for the latest records at the EC Office.
In fact, according to a study by KEADILAN, more than 100,000 voters were subjected to a change in state legislative assemblies (DUN) and another 1,000,000 were subjected to a change in voting districts, presumably also involving a change in voting stations. Specifically, under the EC’s locality correction exercise, up to 118,775 voters have been affected by a change in state legislative assemblies (DUN). Among the 118,774 voters, 41,850 of them are now also forced to vote for Parliamentary constituencies that differ from the constituencies they voted at prior to this change. For example, some of the affected Parliamentary constituencies are as follows:
1,622 voters have been reallocated from the Hulu Langat parliamentary seat to Serdang.
1,937 voters have been reallocated from the Subang parliamentary seat to Shah Alam.
936 voters have been reallocated from the Kuantan parliamentary seat to Indera Mahkota.
952 voters have been reallocated from the Batu parliamentary seat to Kepong.
1,601 voters have been reallocated from the Rembau parliamentary seat to Seremban.
2,695 voters have been reallocated from the Sekijang parliamentary seat to Segamat.
2,743 voters have been reallocated from the Kalabakan parliamentary seat to Tawau.
For the purpose of the upcoming by-elections, more than 4,000 voters of the Sungai Besar (P093) parliamentary constituency were subjected to a change in voting districts, specifically:
2,600 voters have been shifted from the Parit Radin voting district to a new voting district — Kampung Baru Nelayan.
470 voters have been shifted from the Parit Satu Timor voting district to the Pekan Sungai Besar district.
600 voters have been shifted from the Sekinchan Tempatan Selatan voting district to the Sekinchan Tempatan Tengah district.
400 voters have been shifted from the Sekinchan Tempatan Selatan voting district to the Sekinchan district.
600 voters have been shifted from the Sekinchan Tempatan Tengah voting district to the Sekinchan district.
I urge the EC to inform the voters of their latest voting status following the locality correction exercise, and to update the electoral roll information at the EC office for the convenience of voters. The EC should not expect our voters to expend their efforts unilaterally simply to verify their own registration status.
Secondly, SPR must explain the steps that it has taken in contacting voters to prevent any confusion, and to prevent the shortcomings in our democratic process to persist any longer.
Moving on, the Chairman of the EC must respond to the disclosure brought by KEADILAN today as well as implement the recommendations by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform which states:
– As a long-term measure, the EC’s three responsibilities – to conduct elections, manage the electoral roll and review election constituencies – should each be handled by three independent bodies.
Malaysians are awaiting the speedy implementation of reform recommendations meted out by the nation’s highest legislative wing – the Dewan Rakyat. As such, how long before the EC creates three independent entities to conduct elections, manage the electoral roll and review election constituencies?
The clock is ticking.
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SPR WAJIB MENJELASKAN PROSES PEMINDAHAN PENGUNDI YANG MELIBATKAN LEBIH SEJUTA PEMILIH MALAYSIA
Semalam, Pengerusi SPR menyatakan bahawa proses belah bahagi – ataupun penukaran tempat mengundi buat pemilih telah digazet seawal Disember 2014.
Beliau dipetik berkata, ”Pusat mengundi telahpun digazet sebelum ini dan kriteria pemilihan adalah untuk kemudahan pemilih.”
Namun, menurut Unit Data Jabatan Pilihanraya KEADILAN, bukan sahaja CD yang mengandungi maklumat terkini berkait daerah mengundi baru sahaja diberi kepada semua parti politik, tetapi Rang Daftar Pemilih Tambahan Suku 1, 2016 jua tidak memaparkan senarai daerah mengundi baru yang telah digazet.
Ternyata, tinjauan kami mendapati kenyataan Pengerusi SPR jauh meleset – kerana pengundi baru yang mendaftar pada akhir tahun lepas ataupun awal 2016 hanya akan melihat senarai data daerah mengundi lama mereka walaupun mereka memeriksa rekod terkini di Pejabat SPR.
Sebenarnya, menerusi kajian KEADILAN, terdapat lebih 100,000 pengundi terlibat dalam pertukaran DUN dan sejuta pengundi bertukar daerah mengundi yang barangkali melibatkan pertukaran sekolah tempat mengundi. Secara khusus, menerusi proses belah bahagi yang dijalankan oleh SPR, seramai 118,775 orang pemilih yang terkesan peralihan antara DUN dan daripada jumlah ini, seramai 41,850 orang pemilih yang melibatkan perubahan Parlimen. Senarai Parlimen dan DUN yang terkesan adalah seperti berikut:
1,622 dari Parlimen Hulu Langat dipindahkan ke Serdang.
1,937 dari Parlimen Subang ke Shah Alam.
936 dari Parlimen Kuantan ke parlimen Indera Mahkota.
952 dari Parlimen Batu ke Kepong.
1,601 dari Parlimen Rembau ke parlimen Seremban.
2,695 dari Parlimen Sekijang ke parlimen Segamat
2,743 dari Parlimen Kalabakan ke parlimen Tawau.
Bagi maksud pilihanraya kecil yang sedang berlangsung sekarang ini pula, hampir 4000 pengundi Parlimen Sungai Besar (093) yang bertukar daerah mengundi,iaitu:
2,600 dari daerah mengundi Parit Radin kepada tempat mengundi baru yang dinamakan Kampung Baru Nelayan
470 dari daerah Parit Satu Timor kepada daerah Pekan Sungai Besar
600 dari daerah mengundi Sekinchan Tempatan Selatan kepada Sekinchan Tempatan Tengah
400 dari daerah mengundi Sekinchan Tempatan Selatan kepada Sekinchan
180 dari daerah mengundi Sekinchan Tempatan Tengah kepada Sekinchan
Bayangkan bila tiba hari mengundi, akan ada hampir 4 ribu pemilih yang keliru akan tempat pembuangan undi mereka yang terkini.
Saya mendesak SPR agar memaklumkan kepada pengundi tentang status pemindahan terkini serta mengemaskini maklumat di pejabat SPR, bukannya mengharap usaha unilateral diambil oleh pemilih.
Kedua, SPR wajib menyatakan usaha yang telah diambil dalam menghubungi pengundi supaya kekeliruan dan kepincangan dalam proses demokrasi tidak berterusan.
Rakyat sedang menantikan pelunasan rekomendasi Jawatankuasa Pilihan Khas Parlimen berkait Reformasi Pilihanraya yang dipersetujui sebulat suara anggota Dewan Rakyat yang di antaranya menyebut:
“Sebagai jalan jangka masa panjang, tiga tanggungjawab SPR iaitu melaksanakan proses pilihanraya, mengurus pendaftaran daftar pemilih serta mengkaji semula proses persempadanan semula – setiap satu wajib dijalankan oleh tiga badan bebas yang berbeza.”
Pengerusi SPR harus memberi maklum balas tentang maklumat yang didedahkan oleh KEADILAN pada hari beserta kesediaan untuk melaksanakan rekomendasi Jawatankuasa Pilihan Parlimen dengan bekerjasama secara telus dan memberi garis masa pewujudan tiga badan bebas seperti diputus oleh Parlimen Malaysia.
Nurul Izzah Anwar
Ahli Parlimen, Lembah Pantai
Naib Presiden & Pengarah Pilihanraya Bersama KEADILAN
