EC should be seen as neutral, says Kit Siang
Written by Yong Min Wei, The Edge
The DAP has reminded the Election Commission (EC) to play its role as a neutral body and not concentrate on removing campaign materials of parties not contesting in the Bagan Pinang state by-election.
Its adviser Lim Kit Siang said the EC’s claim that PAS and not the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition was contesting in the by-election lacked merit as the opposition pact was not a subterranean party but a de facto coalition that had formed governments in various states following the 12th general election last year.
“The EC should be more concerned about the macro questions in seeing a free, fair and clean by-election. The tall order in Bagan Pinang is for the EC to ensure that eligible voters are on the electoral roll instead,” he told The Edge Financial Daily today.
He was asked to comment on EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusuf’s recent statement that PR should be registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to enable them to campaign as a coalition.
The EC has barred political parties not contesting the Bagan Pinang by-election from putting up campaign materials in the constituency and has since removed flags, banners, billboards and symbols of DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) that were erected by campaign workers.
According to Lim, the EC should cease taking down the campaign materials of DAP and PKR as the two parties were registered political parties similar to any Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, adding that the commission should be least bothered with the modus operandi of each of the PR party members in campaigning in Bagan Pinang.
He pointed out that if EC was making it an issue to ban campaign materials of uncontesting parties in Bagan Pinang, then it should also ensure that only BN paraphernalia were hung up while that of Umno, MCA and MIC be barred as well.
“The stakes are high here in Bagan Pinang. If the EC continues to take down our campaign materials, then directly or indirectly they are taking sides,” said Lim, who is also MP for Ipoh Timur.
In August 2009, PR announced that it would be a legally registered organisation before the next general election which would be held by 2013 the latest. Under the rules of the ROS, a political coalition must consist of at least seven parties.
Meanwhile, PKR supreme council member S Manikavasagam said the EC chairman’s statement was indirectly getting the commission involved in the affairs of political parties and as such did not portray an apolitical image.
“They (EC) would know by now that PR is expected to register as a coalition sometime soon. As such, the issue of us getting registered does not arise,” he noted.
“When the three parties (PKR-DAP-PAS) campaigned as a team in the last general election, why did the EC not ban campaign materials of uncontesting parties in any constituency?” said Manikavasagam, who is also Kapar MP.
He added that it was the freedom of each political party and voters in the constituency to put up flags as well as banners and billboards so long as such materials were not seditious and slanderous in nature.
EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar was reported to have said that only contesting parties were allowed to put up campaign paraphernalia as those uncontesting were not paying an election deposit and should not be allowed to put up such materials.
Under EC rules, a candidate has to deposit RM5,000 to contest a state seat and RM10,000 for a parliamentary seat. Additional deposits of RM3,000 and RM5,000 are also required for putting up campaign materials in state and parliamentary constituencies respectively during an election.
