For as long as Malaysia has a dysfunctional postal and early voting system, there will be several seats that serve as fixed deposits for the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) — further entrenching BN’s precarious rule over Malaysians.
In the 2013 General Elections, BN won a total 133 out of 222 parliamentary seats. However, the victory for 30 of those seats were secured only through the votes casted by the postal and early voters. In other words, had it not been for the postal and early votes, the opposition coalition would then have won these 30 seats on top of its original 89 seats, gaining a parliamentary majority at 119 seats.
Two of these 30 seats are Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar — the two constituency up for grabs during the upcoming by-elections on 18 June.
In 2013, BN won 50.5 percent of the total votes at Sungai Besar. However, the proportion of ordinary voters only amounted to 49.2 percent. On the other hand, among the early and postal voters, an overwhelming 75.1 percent of votes showed support for the BN candidate. This rendered BN as the winning party as the early and postal votes provided an additional 1.4 percent of votes. In other words, BN lost the popular ordinary votes in these and the other 28 seats but won by small margins from early and postal voters.
At Kuala Kangsar, BN won 51.1 percent of the total votes. However, ordinary voters only accorded BN with 49.3 percent of the votes. Conversely, the early and postal votes showed favour towards BN at a staggering rate of 76.0 percent. Ultimately, these votes gave BN an additional 1.9 percent of total votes, handing the ruling coalition a slim victory.
The aforementioned early voters mainly comprise the police and military personnel. There have been alleged reports that these votes are allocated to the constituency their current military bases are located, as opposed to being sent back to these voters’ original hometowns. For example, in the 2008 General Elections, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stated that KEADILAN had actually won the Setiawangsa constituency, before 14,000 postal votes showed up and awarded BN with the majority vote. This practice gives BN extra leverage to secure more constituencies.
To ensure the fairness of our elections, we call for the counting of early votes to be conducted on the same day that the votes were casted. The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, an international collaboration that advocates for legitimate, democratic elections, asserts that “best electoral practices require the counting of votes to commence as soon as the polls close, and the best scenario involves the votes being counted on the same day”. Malaysia’s flawed electoral practices stand in stark contrast – our ballot boxes for early votes are kept at allegedly secured areas, until vote counting is conducted on Election Day. The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network criticises these pockets of time between vote-casting and vote-counting, as the ballot paper of early voters may be moved around before they are actually counted — constituting electoral fraud. Tomorrow is the day of early voting — we must urge extra vigilance to provide Malaysians with a free and fair electoral platform. The EC must ensure transparency by making sure that watchful eyes are kept on the ballot boxes that carry the votes of our people.
Zooming out to the national front, our early voters and postal voters contributed 3.4 percent of the total votes casted in 2013, handing BN the majority at an extra 30 parliamentary seats. These 380,000 votes determined BN’s slim victory at the narrowest of margins in the history of Malaysia’s national elections.
Thus, in the truest sense of the word, every vote counts! We urge all constituents of Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar to exercise their right to vote in record numbers on this 18 June.
Nurul Izzah Anwar
Member of Parliament, Lembah Pantai
Vice President and Election Director, KEADILAN
Selagi Malaysia mempunyai sistem undi pos dan undi awal yang dilaksanakan, pasti akan ada beberapa kerusi yang kekal menjadi deposit tetap untuk kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) untuk mengukuhkan lagi dasar menekan BN terhadap rakyat Malaysia
Pada Pilihan Raya Umum 2013 , BN memenangi sejumlah 133 daripada 222 kerusi Parlimen. Pun begitu, kemenangan 30 daripada kerusi-kerusi diperolehi hanya melalui undi pos dan undi awal. Dalam erti kata lain , jika tidak wujud undi pos dan undi awal, pakatan pembangkang memenangi 30 kerusi parlimen – tambahan daripada 89 kerusi asalnya , seterusnya mendapat majoriti parlimen dengan 119 kerusi.
Pada tahun 2013 , BN memenangi 50.5 peratus daripada jumlah undi di Sungai Besar. Walau bagaimanapun , peratusan pengundi biasa hanya berjumlah 49.2 peratus. Sebaliknya , di kalangan pengundi awal dan pos, sebanyak 75.1 peratus mengundi BN. Hal ini menyebabkan BN memperoleh kemenangan disebabkan undi awal yang merangkumi sebanyak 1.4 peratus undi daripada jumlah undi.
Dalam erti kata lain, BN hakikatnya kehilangan undi biasa iaitu undi popular di Sungai Besar tetapi menang dengan margin kecil dari jumlah undi awal dan undi pos.
Manakala di Kuala Kangsar , BN memenangi 51.1 peratus daripada jumlah undi. Pun begitu, pengundi biasa yang mengundi BN hanya 49.3 peratus.
Sebaliknya , undi awal dan pos memihak kepada BN pada kadar yang mengejutkan 76.0 peratus. Akhirnya, undi ini telah memberikan BN tambahan 1.9 peratus daripada jumlah undi, menyebabkan kerajaan BN memperoleh kemenangan tipis.
Para pengundi awal yang dinyatakan di atas adalah terdiri daripada anggota polis dan tentera. Alasan utama buat undi ini adalah ianya diperuntukkan kepada kawasan semasa mereka bertugas. Sepatutnya tempat mengundi mereka kepada kampung halaman asal.
Sebagai contoh, dalam PRU 2008, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menyatakan bahawa KEADILAN sebenarnya telah memenangi parlimen Setiawangsa, sebelum 14,000 undi pos muncul dan memberi kelibahan BN dengan undi majoriti. Amalan ini banyak berpihak kepada BN untuk mendapatkan lebih banyak kerusi pilihan raya.
Dalam memastikan pilihan raya berlangsung dengan telus, kami menyeru supaya pengiraan undi awal yang akan dijalankan pada hari yang sama bahawa undi biasa diadakan.
Sebuah badan Pilhan Raya antarabangsa ACE Knowledge Network, yang menjalankan satu kerjasama antarabangsa menyokong pelaksanaan pilihan raya yang sah dan demokratik, menegaskan bahawa “amalan pilihan raya terbaik memerlukan pengiraan undi akan bermula sebaik sahaja peti undi ditutup, dan senario yang terbaik melibatkan undi yang dikira pada hari yang sama”.
Manakala amalan pilihan raya songsang di Malaysia adalah berbeza sama sekali- peti undi untuk undi awal perlu disimpan di kawasan yang terpilih, selalunya di kawasan larangan dalam Balai Polis yang terhalang buat pemantau pilihanraya – berhari-hari sehinggalah pengiraan undi dijalankan pada Hari Pilihan Raya.
ACE Knowledge Network mengkritik jarak waktu antara undi awal dan pengiraan undi kerana kertas undi pengundi awal boleh digerakkan sebelum proses pengiraan – mendorong kepada penipuan pilihan raya.
Hari esok di Sungai Besar merupakan hari pengundian awal – kita perlu waspada dan menggesa rakyat Malaysia melalui platform pilihan raya yang bebas dan adil.
SPR perlu memastikan ketelusan dengan pantauan yang terperinci terhadap peti undi yang membawa undi rakyat kita.
Mendepani masa depan pilihan raya, pengundi awal dan pengundi pos menyumbang 3.4 peratus daripada jumlah undi diperoleh pada tahun 2013, apabila undi majoriti BN di tambahan 30 kerusi Parlimen. Ini melibatkan 380,000 undi yang memberi kemenangan tipis kepada BN dalam sejarah Pilihan Raya Umum Malaysia.
Dalam erti kata sebenarnya, setiap undi anda amat bermakna untuk memastikan UMNO BN menang mudah menerusi undi tertangguh – pos dan awal ! Kami menggesa semua yang berada didalam Sungai Besar dan Kuala Kangsar untuk melaksanakan hak mereka untuk mengundi pada 18 Jun ini. SPR juga wajib memastikan pemantau kami mendapat akses kepada kotak undi dari awal hingga proses kiraan undi.
Nurul Izzah Anwar
Ahli Parlimen, Lembah Pantai
Naib Presiden & Pengarah Pilihanraya, KEADILAN
