After RoS woes, DAP MP asks if agency will order fresh Umno polls
(MM) – DAP lawmaker Teo Nie Ching today challenged the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to declare Umno’s junior elections last Saturday as “illegitimate” following allegations of irregularities such as missing ballot papers.
The Kulai MP pointed out today the Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin’s polls were marred by more issues that the vote-tallying error that led the RoS to order the DAP to conduct a new round of elections for its central executive committee (CEC).
“The question is, will the RoS take action against Umno and call for fresh elections?
“If [not], it shows that the RoS is just an Umno puppet for practising double standards towards the DAP and no longer professional, impartial and independent,” Teo said in a statement.
She said that Umno executive secretary Datuk Rauf Yusof had pointed out that 50 of 191 divisions experienced technical problems, which prolonged the counting process, while party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor had said there were not more than 10 percent divisions had technical glitches in the elections, she added.
The assistant national publicity secretary cited reports that said Umno Youth Wing in Merbok and Women’s Wing in Petaling Jaya Selatan had received more ballot papers than the legitimate number of delegates, six branches of the Youth wing in Seremban were qualified for voting though they were revoked months ago, and voting for Women’s Wing in Baling and Puteri in Sabak Bernam was postponed due to missing ballot papers.
DAP had engaged in a long-running battle with the RoS stemming from a technical glitch in the tabulation of votes from the December 15, 2012 party elections that saw secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s political aide, Zairil Khir Johari, moving up from 39th position to 20th — the final spot on the CEC.
The RoS subsequently ordered the party to conduct fresh polls, after saying it was not satisfied with the party’s explanations.
The party initially refused to comply, before finally agreeing to the directive with a special congress on September 29 that saw the same line-up of CEC leaders retaining their posts.
