Citizens Step Up to Monitor Malaysia’s Elections
(WSJ) – 3,000 citizens have signed up to be volunteers across 12 out of 13 states. That number falls far short of initial goal of 10,000 election observers by Mafrel, human rights group Pusat Komas and Bersih 2.0, a group that advocates electoral reforms.
When Malaysians go to vote on May 5, some citizen activists will be on vigil at polling stations to try to ensure that the 13th general elections are free and fair.
The stakes are high for both the National Front coalition, which has ruled Malaysia since it gained independence from Britain in 1957, and a resurgent opposition, which aims to better its 2008 record electoral gains, when it denied the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
Activists, who have in past clashed with police when demanding sweeping electoral reforms, complain that the government isn’t making changes quickly enough to ensure the integrity of the election. The effort to dispatch citizen observers reflects concern that authorities tasked with managing the election process may not be entirely free from the government’s grip.
“Everyone knows that the Election Commission is not independent,” said Wong Yoke Meng, who count ballots for the first time.
The 38-year-old entrepreneur will be among volunteers reporting at their designated polling booths by 7 a.m. to make sure that ballots are in order. After the poll stations close at 5 p.m., she will help count ballots. Ms. Wong is one of the four agents at polling stations –or Paca — that a candidate in each district can nominate. In addition, local groups are scattering their volunteers across the country to observe the polling process from outside the booths.
Read more at: http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2013/04/30/citizens-step-up-to-monitor-malaysias-elections/
