Putrajaya agrees to fund voter verification system
(The Malaysian Insider) – KANGAR, July 23 — Putrajaya has agreed to pay for a voter authentication system that will quell talk of phantom voters, a key demand of outlawed electoral reforms group Bersih 2.0
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today the system was one of the initiatives undertaken by the Election Commission (EC) to ensure transparency in the country’s elections.
“The implementation of the biometric system will be able to counter allegations about the existence of phantom voters,” he said at a meet-the-people programme at Dewan 2020, here today, according to Bernama Online.
Bersih 2.0 had sought to send a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong over its eight demands for free and fair elections, after the EC said it was too busy to meet the movement, a coalition of 62 groups.
However, the EC later agreed to meet Bersih over its demands, but on the condition they stopped the July 9 rally. The commission also said most of the demands involved amendments that needed parliamentary approval.
