PAS to protest against airlifting of ballots
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, Free Malaysia Today
GUA MUSANG: PAS is formally protesting against the Election Commission’s (EC) move to airlift ballot boxes from four Orang Asli settlements in Galas for fear of rigging.
PAS Galas election director Abdul Fatah Harun said the move was against election laws and lawyers have advised the party to lodge a formal complaint with the EC tomorrow.
Fatah, who is also Bukit Tuku assemblyman, said PAS was informed of the move today, adding that it was standard procedure for the counting to take place at the polling centre itself.
The party has made preparations for its polling agents to be stationed at the four locations and monitor the counting, but airlifting the ballots will prevent them from doing so.
The four locations are Belatin, Hau, Balar and Bihai.
“While the helicopter is carrying the votes in that brief period, the EU will have time to do anything with the ballots,” Fatah told a press conference here.
PAS and its allies in Pakatan Rakyat distrust the EC. The EC has been accused of being “puppets” of the Barisan Nasional (BN).
The Orang Asli form a sizeable chunk of the Galas electorate. There are some 1,700 Orang Asli voters in the constituency.
‘Secret weapon’
PAS won the state seat with a razor-thin 656 majority in the 2008 general election, and hence the indigenous voters, who are traditionally known to back BN, may sway the election outcome.
But PAS unleashed its “secret weapon” yesterday in a bid to force a swing towards the Islamist party.
