Interim Report on the 1999 Malaysian General Election
By Pemantau Pilihanraya Raykat Malaysia
(Malaysian Citizens' Election Watch)
- The Malaysian Citizens Election Watch (PEMANTAU)
- Malaysian Politics in General
- The Malaysian General Elections
- Results of the Past General Elections
The Observations and Initial Findings
- Pre-Election Stage
- Polling Day
- Post Election Stage
- Conduct of the Election Commission
- Citizens Participation
The Tenth |Malaysia General Election was held on 29th November 1999. The ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN), under the leadership of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. captured more than a two-thirds majority. The overall results, however, showed that the majority obtained by the BN had been substantially reduced to smaller margins than in previous elections
It is an interesting point to note that in the General Elections, there has been a large increase of public interest and participation. The level of awareness by the general public regarding their rights and responsibilities in the democratic processes in the country as seen to have reached almost every sector of society, especially among middle class urban dwellers. Professionals, students, housewives and non-government organizations were seen to have participated in almost all aspects of the electoral process with greater awareness, concern and responsibility. Some 680,000 citizens turned out to register themselves as new voters in the annual registration exercise conducted by the Election Commission in April/May 1999.
Serious concern has been raised by the general public concerning the reliability and credibility of the electoral register. There is a public perception that the election Commission was less than impartial in discharging its duties in the conduct of the overall electoral process. The secrecy of the ballot is also an issue of serious concern among voters, including armed forces personnel. Their dissatisfaction with the biased local broadcasting and print media can be clearly seen from their action in turning to the alternative media.
An independent citizens election watch was formed by a group of local NGOs and despite not given official status by the Election Commission to carry out election monitoring, went ahead with their efforts. There were many volunteers from the various sectors of the society who has contributed to this election monitoring efforts. The general public stood by each other for one common goal: to protect their rights of suffrage through participating in the efforts to help secure free and fair elections.
All this has never happened in this country on such a large scale before. This was one of the clear signs of the increased awareness among the general public and perhaps could be an indication of the beginning of a new era of citizens politics.
This report provides information concerning the overall electoral process according to the observation and monitoring exercise carried out and the results from the initial study and analysis made on the data obtained in relation to the overall electoral process. The question as to whether the recent General Election was actually free and fair is dealt with at length in this report and will be further addressed in the final report, anticipated to be released in March 2000.
This two-part approach is adopted to allow research and investigations to be carried out at grassroots level in order to verify and confirm the accuracy and reliability of the findings without having to hold back vital information over too long a period.
This report is the result of joint effort of forty-two (42) non-government organizations, which, in June 1999, endorsed the need for election monitoring. This joint effort was called the Malaysian Citizens' Election Watch or PEMANTAU in its abbreviated Malay version of the name.
The main objectives of the efforts were to help ensure that the 1999 General Elections would be conducted in a free and fair manner as well as to make sure that citizens were aware of their rights and responsibilities.
The Malaysian Citizens Election Watch (PEMANTAU)
PEMANTAU's efforts were co-ordinate and supervised by a steering committee comprising eight (8) representatives from the participating non-government organizations. Each member of the steering committee was assigned a specific responsibility:
Pertubuhan Kebjikan BUDI Malaysia (BUDI)
Lead co-ordination organisation & Electoral Roll Study
Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN)
Media Monitoring
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)
Polling Day Watch
Human Rights Society of Malaysia (HAKAM)
Related Legal Issues
International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
Public and Media Relations
Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM)
Complaints Bureau
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
Election Campaign Watch
The Civil Rights Committee of the Chinese Assembly Hall (CRC) was assigned the responsibility of liaison with the Chinese community in respect of each of the above roles.
A formal request was made by PEMANTAU to be given official status by the Election Commission. Despite all the encouraging statement initially issued by its chairman in support of the joint efforts, the Election Commission at the end of the day, did not give any official recognition to any organization, including independent foreign observers.
PEMANTAU and several international election observer organizations, amongst which were the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Asian Network for Free Election (ANFREL) decided, nevertheless, to carry out independent election observation and monitoring on an informal basis.
Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, modeled on the British system, based on a written constitution called the Federal Constitution. Malaysia is a federation, consisting of thirteen (13) states and two (2) federal territories.
Malaysia follows a multi-party system comprising one main ruling coalition and about eight active opposition parties. Most of the parties are closely linked to one or other of the ethnic groups in the country.
The Malaysian General Election
According to the 1998 Statistics Report published by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia has a population of about 20,995,596. As recorded in the 1998 Electoral Roll produced by the Election Commission, as independent statutory body appointed by the King (Yang Di Pertuan Agong), in accordance with the provisions of Articles 113-120 of the Federal Constitution.
There have been nine general elections conducted since Malaysia gained her independence in 1957, The Tenth General Election was held on 29th November, 1999, involving election for the Parliamentary and State Legislative Assemblies for all states except for Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan. In these four units, the election was held only in respect of Parliament.
For the 1999 General Election, Parliament was dissolved on 16th November and Nomination Day was held on 21st November 1999. The final results of the General Election were known by 4.00 a.m. on 30th November 1999.
Result of Past General Elections
The purpose of this report is to provide information regarding the data pertaining to the overall process of the recently conducted General Election. It also contains a preliminary assessment to as to what extent the elections can be regarded as free and fair, in accordance to international standards.
This is the first of a two-part report and it briefly provides the initial findings from the observation which was systematically carried out during the following stages of the electoral process:
the pre-election period beginning 1st September 1999
the polling day on November 29th
the post -election period up to December 18th 1999
This Interim Report includes the public response relating to the entire election process obtained in the form of formal complaints.
A preliminary assessment based on several analysis which were made at this stage and their comparison to the public response, are also included in the report herein.
A comprehensive Main Report will be issued within three months' time. It will cover in detail all aspects in relation to the initial findings, fully verified and supported by relevant document, as well as the conclusions that can be drawn therefrom.
It will also contain a series of recommendations as to the steps that need to be taken to rectify the weaknesses of the overall election system and its procedures.
The approach adopted in carrying out the monitoring and observation of the recent General Election involved the following exercises:
compilation, study and analysis of relevant data
observation and monitoring of the entire electoral process and its administration
compilation and analysis of the response from the general public
It also included preliminary verifications of the findings that could be carried out within the time available at this stage.
The data compiled for this report covers information obtained from the study of the 1998 Electoral Register; from the observations and monitoring exercises throughout the entire election process, including media monitoring; and from formal public complaints received relating to the process.
Relevant data was obtained from the following:
1998 Electoral Register produced by the Election Commission in the form of a CD-ROM
the Election Commission website which was made accessible to the public during the two-week period of verification and the period before the polling day
hard copies of the Electoral Register released by the Elections Commission prior to Nomination Day.
The data compiled includes data on the ordinary voters' as well as the postal voters' lists.
The data relating to certain contents of the electoral register was also obtained directly form the public through :
public awareness programs on democracy and the electoral process. This was done through talks; forums and discussions carried out with the public with the aim of disseminating information to and obtaining response form them on issues related to the subject.
a complaint bureau, established to enable the public to channel their queries, dissatisfactions and problems related to the elections. Formal complaints' form was produced and distributed to the public.
Media monitoring was carried out on the local broadcasting and the print media on a sampling basis throughout the official campaign period.
The monitoring covered the English Language, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese media coverage in the local broadcasting as well as the print media.
Monitoring of the media coverage in Tamil was not carried out due to lack of resources.
Observation on the manner in which the candidates of the contesting political parties conducted their campaigning was carries out at several constituencies throughout the country during the official campaign period.
Monitoring and observation were carried out on Polling Day at selected polling stations for both the Parliamentary as well as State Assemblies. The exercise covered three parliamentary constituencies in eight (8) states. Specific attention was given to the manner in which the polling process was conducted by the authorities, as well as to the manner in which the election candidates, their agents and the general public participated.
Complaints form the General Public
Public complaints relating to the election process were obtained throughout the pre-election period, the polling day and post election period. Cut-off time for the acceptance of complaints for this report was 18th December 1999.
Complaints wee obtained mainly through the use of a standard questionnaire starting off with the public awareness forums. The same standard forms were then published in a local weekly tabloid and public response was received mostly via the mail. Formal complaints in the form of letters and e-mail correspondence were also received.
Data obtained from electoral register, media and public complaints were entered into separate computer database and a series of computer tests and analysis were carried out on each database.
The official registered voters' list was obtained in the form of a CD-ROM released by the Election Commission. The data compiled includes information on the voter's name and identity, as well as their voting constituency and locality. It is stored in database format.
Analysis that could be carried out at this stage was on the following:
- Correlation between voters with dubious data and their polling locality
- Correlation between such phantom voters and the election results
Further tests are currently being carried out and the results will be reported in the Main Report.
Analysis is currently being carried out on the results of the elections as published by the local and international press. These results have yet to be formally published in the Government Gazette.
The main focus of the analysis is the correlation between votes cast at parliamentary and state levels and the correlation between the results and the existence of suspected "phantom" voters.
Complaints of electoral fraud lodged by voters were similarly compiled and entered into a computer database. Pertinent information entered includes the category of complaint, the registered constituency versus the supposed constituency, as well as information on suspected "phantom" voters.
Analysis as carried out to detect patterns of electoral fraud and the correlation between the suspected "phantom" voters and information such as dead persons, non-existent addresses, etc.
Only a preliminary verification exercise could be carried out at this stage. At the time of this report, verification could be carried out only up to the stage of conducting person-to-person interviews with the complainants and checking on the documented evidence provided by them.
A further verification process is currently being carried out. It involves field investigations and survey at the particular constituencies concerned. This process is anticipated to take approximately 8 to 10 weeks to complete.
THE OBSERVATIONS AND INITIAL FINDINGS
The findings of the entire observation and monitoring exercise reported herein are divided into the various stages of the elections.
1998 Electoral Roll Study and Analysis
Observations from the Study
In September 1999, it was discovered that discrepancies and irregularities exist in the 1998 Electoral Register gazetted on 7th January 1999 and used in the recent general elections. This includes those reported by the opposition parties which involve the presence of duplicate identity card numbers, i.e. two or more voters' names having the same identity card numbers. The number of such cases involved is substantial.
Fictitious names or names spelt with numbers instead of letters were also found in the register.
Large numbers of names of dead persons and names registered at addresses that actually do not exist.
Further discovered are names of persons at addresses they do not belong to.
To date, it has been discovered that ALL these irregularities and discrepancies have one thing in common on the register - they do not have any record of their dates of birth. A total of about 51.2% of the names on the register is without any record of their date of birth.
In addition to the above, large numbers of voters, including those entitled to postal voting, have their names listed at polling localities different from those which they had originally registered to vote at. Armed forces personnel who have long since retired, are still found to have their names on the postal voters' list.
Also found are identity card numbers of armed forces personnel having their military identification (letters T or N at the beginning of the numbers) removed and assigned to ordinary voters at different polling localities.
(Note:
All the above discrepancies and irregularities have been made known to the Election Commission during a formal meeting between PEMANTAU and them on August 3rd 1999. A petition to have the Elections Commission conduct a General Registration exercise, i.e. a complete re-registration process of ALL eligible voters throughout the country was submitted a few days earlier, on August 19th, 1999.
It is to be further noted that a Memorandum of issues of serious concern, including the issues connected with the electoral roll, was also handed to the Election Commission on September 10th, 1999.
Results of the Computer Analysis
The analysis carried out to date on the Electoral Roll showed that a significant proportion of the voters records are of a "dubious" nature. It is strongly suspected that these records could have been entered deliberately.
Multiple computer tests were carried out on the database records to confirm this and to debunk the suggestion that these records were the result of periodic data migration (i.e. transferring from an older system). The analysis showed that there were large groups of registered voters in specific constituencies, which illustrate:
characteristics such as same identity card numbers and same registration dates/addresses
peculiar names on random selection records
It is interesting to note that the results of the analysis further revealed that these anomalies were found to be in large numbers only in certain polling constituencies and not evenly or randomly distributed throughout the country.
This was perhaps the most blatant example of unfairness in the whole election process. The barefaced and total bias of the four local TV stations, which form the most formidable media in terms of their power to influence the public's thoughts in favour of the ruling coalition, was very obvious. There was a continuous stream of advertisement propaganda openly calling for support of the ruling coalition but none in favour of any of the opposition parties.
There was even a TV broadcast at prime time on the eve of the polling day by the President of UMNO/Chairman of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional and acting as head of the caretaker government, calling upon all Malaysians to vote for his party. No opposition party leader was given a similar opportunity.
The main national and regional radio stations exhibited the same tendencies as the TV channels. Likewise was the case with the mainstream print media.
The various political parties were given barely nine days for campaigning.
It was observed that the ruling coalition gained the greatest advantage from the short campaigning period; their election machinery and network were well organizes prior to the campaigning period and they were given almost a complete monopoly in media coverage.
Many complaints have been received concerning the abuse of authority by the police during the period. Last minute cancellation of permits for the opposition party candidates to hold outdoor public gathering was most common.
Observation and monitoring were carried out at polling stations for both the balloting of ordinary and postal votes.
Since the Election Commission refused to accord official status to observers, the monitoring could only be carried out fifty (50) yards from the polling station.
At a few polling stations in the rural areas, the presiding officer, either not knowing or not informed of the earlier refusal of the Election Commission to accord formal status to independent observers, allowed the monitoring to be carried out within the restricted area.
Confusion at the Election Commission's registration counter was noted at many polling station, mainly arising from the voters having their names moved to another polling station without their knowledge.
It was also a common sight to see many workers and volunteers of the ruling coalition being allowed to be present within the restricted areas.
At several central polling stations, PEMNTAU observers were harassed not only by the workers and volunteers of the ruling party but also by the police.
PEMANTAU only managed to carry out observation and monitoring at one distribution centre of the postal votes for the armed forces. The observation and monitoring was only carried out for about an hour. Then, authorities, have realised that the presence of independent observers was not given formal approval by the Election Commission, hastily prevented the volunteers from continuing with their task and were instructed to leave immediately.
Within the time observation and monitoring could be carried out, it was noted that confusion and dissatisfaction similarly occurred among armed forces personnel at the registration counter. This as due to the Election Commission's requirement that postal voters must include their identification forms in the same envelope as that for their ballot papers, raising questions regarding the secrecy of their ballots.
There were also armed forces personnel who were informed that their names were not on the registration list and hence could not be allowed to vote. Many ballot papers could not be distributed at the centres because they belonged to those who had already retired lived elsewhere. Most of these the Election Commission undertook to deliver to their home address via ordinary mail.
In April/May 1999, the Election Commission conduced the annual registration of new voters amounting to more than 680,000 persons. Nevertheless, they were not allowed to vote in the recent General Elections on the ground given by the Election Commission that they needed eight (8) months to complete the process to registration. However, despite this, cases were reported of the names of some of these newly registered voters appearing on the Electoral Roll and their actually being allowed to vote.
Note :
Observation and monitoring of the conduct of vote casting for both the ordinary and postal voters reported herein have depended more on the complaints received than actual physical observation and monitoring due to the constraints explained above.
No observation could be carried out by independent observers during the vote counting and the recording of the results.
The results of the elections referred to in this report were obtained from media releases. At the time of the report, the election results have yet to be formally published in the official Government Gazette.
The results of the analysis that have been carried out to date are as follow:
Correlation between Election Results and Suspected "Phantom" Voters
Initial tests carried out showed that a pattern of correlation existed in certain constituencies between the critical level of the results and the number of suspected "phantom" voters.
The analysis also showed that in most rural constituencies where opposition candidates won, the electoral roll was found to be relatively free of suspected "phantom" voters.
In addition, it is interesting to note that the tests further revealed a situation where the opposition successfully reduced the results to a substantially low margin throughout the country except in certain states and constituencies.
Correlation between the Total Vote Cast at Parliamentary and State Levels
Initial tests conducted showed that there were possible discrepancies between the vote casts at the parliamentary level and the sum total of the votes cast for the corresponding constituent State Assembly seats.
It was further discovered that voters did not cast their votes for the same party at the parliamentary level as they did at the state level.
Conduct of the Election Commission
Observation was made on the manner in which the Election Commission administered the entire election process. Observation focussed mainly on how the Election Commission reacted and responded to public enquiries and complaints.
The Election Commission, though given full authority under the Federal Constitution to ensure the administration of a free and fair election, did not take any positive nor effective action regarding the issues brought to their attention, including the one regarding the handling of the postal votes described below.
Prior to the elections, the Election Commission had released a number of press statements and media interviews responding to the issues raised by PEMANTAU :
Admitting that discrepancies and irregularities do exist in the 1998 Electoral Register, the Election Commission only came out with the explanation that it would take about two to three years and some RM 40 million to carry out a General Registration exercise successfully
A list of some 135,000 names of persons long deceased would be provided at ALL polling stations so that their officers could ensure that the names would not be used by unscrupulous individuals. The Election Commission Chairman claimed that some 300,000 similar names had already been removed from the list since May,1999
A new system would be adopted with regard to the handling of the postal votes. The Election Commission would ensure that their officers
supervise the distribution of the postal ballot papers to ALL the armed forces and police personnel at the various units/base/barracks throughout the country. Some 300 hundred officers were assigned to carry out this exercise
There was need to worry about the secrecy of the ballot. Serial numbers on the ballot papers were there to ensure that the number of ballot papers could be properly recorded and if there were a claim
made by the candidates regarding any discrepancies, such numbers would assist in verifying the claim. The Election Commission claimed that even the ballot papers in Britain were accorded serial numbers
The use of indelible ink to prevent multiple voting was an obsolete method and is not effective, especially in this modern world of advanced technology.
The Election Commission has conducted all previous elections freely and fairly since Malaysia gained independence. Even the Commonwealth Observers. The Election Commission claimed, have
Confirmed that in the 1990 General Elections, its administration was free and fair. Hence there was no need for any independent observers, among the locals or from international foreign organisations
On the issue of fair and equitable media coverage for all political parties, the Election Commission's Chairman did not go any further than making an appeal, during a press conference on the eve of the election campaign period, for the media to observe this
The suggestion by PEMANTAU for the Election Commission to issue a code of conduct to serve as a guide to all parties concerned in ensuring a free and fair election was completely ignored. The Election Commission also did not address pertinent concerns such as the role of the caretaker government, misuse of public amenities by any of the contesting parties and the disguised campaigning prior to the announcement of the election date.
Monitoring and observation carried out during polling day revealed that in may locations, the public was not satisfied with the conduct of the election process by the Election Commission.
The weaknesses in the electoral register manifested itself on Election Day, causing confusion among voters. Many voters were not able to cast their votes due to their names having been moved to another location, in many cases, quite a distance away. A number of them, after having insisted on voting, were finally allowed to vote. Yet no one is sure whether his or her ballot papers were actually counted.
it was noted that suspected "phantom" voters, i.e. "voters" using names of dead persons, doubtful identity documents and even those suing the names of another voter were still allowed by Election Commission officials to cast "their votes", despite protests from agents of opposition party candidates.
Dissatisfaction with the manner in which the counting of the ballots was carried out and the inclusion of the postal votes to the total ballots of the ordinary voters already counted were also not given due attention by
Election Commission officials at many polling centres throughout the country
In addition, it was observed that many of the officials were not able effectively to attend to problems raised by various party agents and the general public regarding vote-buying and voter intimidation.
The Election Commission also failed to fulfill their guarantee on the delivery of ballot papers to a large number of postal voters, mainly retired personnel in the armed forces who no longer reside in the bases/units (if they are ever to be regarded as persons still entitled to the privilege of casting votes through postal voting).
PEMANTAU received more than 2,000 formal complaints from the public regarding the conduct of the Election Commission in administering the elections, hence reinforcing the above observations.
Post Election Period (up to December 18th 1999)
The Election Commission has released several press statements in response to the dissatisfaction raised by party candidates as well as the general public.
Among others are the following press releases:
the Chairman of the Election Commission acknowledged that a lot of confusion had taken place at the commission's voters' registration counters in many polling stations throughout the country due to the weaknesses of the electoral roll. Even some of his personal friends had complained to him that they could not cast their votes due to the same reason
the Secretary of the Election Commission stated that there were no cases where voters had been denied their right to vote and that the Election Commission had carried out their duty throughout the election process "strictly by the book"
the Election Commission would call for a meeting of all their state representatives to look into the public complaints made and verify the facts brought to their attention by the public
It is interesting to note that the Secretary of the Commission contradicted several press statements made at media interviews by its Chairman.
To date, there has been no announcement of the outcome of the meeting between the Commission and its state representatives regarding their efforts to investigate the public complaints received.
It is further noted that the Election Commission has taken a much longer time than in the past to process the results of the elections and have them published in the Government Gazette.
It was noted that in this election, the general public participated more than just in casting vote. Increased awareness about the importance of their vote and the need to ensure that their basic rights were duly observed brought about a comparatively high level of citizens participation in the overall electoral process.
A large number of complaints were lodged by the public, mainly relating to their concern and dissatisfaction over the electoral process per se. Complaints were also received from armed forces personnel s well as from members of the police force.
The complaints received from the public are mainly on issues pertaining to the electoral register and can be summarised as follows:
voters having their names moved from one polling station (where they actually registered at and even voted in the past) to another without their knowledge
voters discovering that their identity card numbers had also been assigned to another person
voters discovering that the names of family members who had long since migrated overseas, thereby having had their citizenship revoked, still appeared on the electoral register
voters questioning the actual secrecy of the ballots, given the procedures that they had to follow
voters discovering that someone had voted on their behalf earlier in the day, before they actually arrived at the polling station
postal voters not being able to collect their ballot papers as the distribution centre had been closed a few days before polling day
postal voters receiving more than one ballot paper issued under their name
spouses of postal voters still being given postal ballot papers although they are registered (and even voted in the past) as ordinary voters
postal voters (overseas student) being told that they cannot vote merely because they did not follow procedures that had never been made known to them before
The above complaints have been listed in the order of the total number received, the largest being the ones concerning their names being moved to a different polling station without their knowledge or request. It is interesting to note that almost all of these cases, the voters had actually checked their data during the official registration exercise conducted by the Election Commission in April/May 1999. The change of their polling stations was only known when they re-checked form the Election Commission's website during the period between the day the election date was announced and the actual polling. Some only knew when they arrived at the polling stations on Election Day.
Equally interesting to note is that a number of the complaints received were pertaining to situation where citizens who had only registered during the annual registration exercise in April/May 1999. Out of curiosity, they turned out at the polling stations on Election Day and were surprised that they were allowed to cast their vote. There were some 680,000 new voters involved during the said registration exercise. According to the Election Commission, they are only eligible to vote after the new list has been processed and published in the Government Gazette, i.e. after January 2000. However, a number of these new voters had been included on the list, enabling them actually to vote on Polling Day. Yet, on the other had, there were many others who could not because their names were not on the list.
The evaluation of the observation and monitoring of the recently conducted general election reported herein is based on the criteria for free and fair election according to international standards.
Reference is made to the book written by S.Sothi Rachagan, a former dean of the Law Faculty, University Malaya, entitled "Law and the Electoral Process" (published by the University of Malays Press), which stated:
The requirements for free elections have been dealt with extensively by Dahl, Mackenzie, Butler et.al., Harrop and Miller, and the International Human rights Law Group.
A conflation of their requirements can be summarised as follows:
An honest, competent and impartial administration to conduct the elections
An electoral system that does not grossly distort the representation afforded the different parties, vis-à-vis, the vote garnered
Substantially the entire adult population has the right to vote
Elections take place regularly within the prescribed time limits
No substantial group in the adult population is denied the opportunity of forming a party and putting up candidates
A developed system of political parties well enough organised to put their policies, traditions and team of candidates before the electors as alternatives between which to choose
All seats in the major legislative chamber can be contested and usually are
Campaign are conducted with reasonable fairness in that neither law nor violence or intimidation bars the candidates from presenting their views and qualifications or prevent the voters from learning them
Limits are placed on the inequalities in the media coverage of the main contenders as well as on the differences in their campaigning spending
Votes are cast freely and secretly; they are counted and reported honestly; and the winning candidates are duly installed in office until their terms expire and new elections is held
An independent judiciary to interpret the law
The reliability and accuracy of the Electoral Register. Gazetted on January 7th, 1999, is very open to question. It contained many irregularities and discrepancies which should have never have been allowed to occur and which must be amended, rectified and regazetted prior to being used for any future election. The anomalies that have been discovered in the register, expose it to possible manipulation and abuse
There were irregularities and discrepancies not only between the data made available by the Election commission in the CD-ROM format and the data made available in the commission's website, but also between them and the data provided in the hard copies distributed to the candidates of the opposition parties on the eve of Nomination Day.
The weakness of the 1998 Electoral Register caused a lot of confusion amongst voters during polling day and this directly resulted in many citizens being denied their right to vote.
The failure of the Election Commission effectively to attend to the problems of the electoral register is totally unbecoming. Steps claimed to have been taken to overcome the issue of names of dead persons on the list were not in accordance with the provisions of the law.
While acknowledging the possibility of the existence of multiple voting and the existence of "phantom" voters, the Election Commission took no steps taken to prevent it from happening. The Commission did not take any action to implement safeguards such as the use of indelible ink to ensure a "one man one vote", as proposed by the general public months before the Election Day.
The Election Commission clearly failed to fulfill its commitment and guarantee to deliver ALL the postal votes on time, thereby denying many of their right to vote. They even disregarded several other provisions of the law by allowing ineligible persons to vote.
The Election Commission also failed to resolve issues pertaining to the transparency in the handling of the postal votes. In actual fact, the Election Commission did not provide adequate safeguards to ensure the secrecy of the ballot in either the ordinary or the postal voting. Instead, the Election Commission chose to respond by giving the public inaccurate and misleading reasons for not doing so.
The opposition candidates were not given a fair opportunity to carry out their election campaigns. Many were denied equitable coverage in both the broadcasting and print media. In fact, the media allowed itself to be blatantly manipulated and abused by the ruling coalition, even to the extent of resorting to unethical propaganda.
The electoral system currently being practiced exposes itself to manipulation and abuse, especially in terms of the delineation of the constituencies. The weight/value of the individual vote varies with each constituency and the distribution of seats does not truly reflect the number of votes garnered.
The Election Commission did not provide sufficient voter information and it can also be clearly seen that the Election Commission has been reluctant to assert its authority to deal with most of the weaknesses in the electoral system.
In addition to the above, judging from past elections, especially in the Sabah State Legislative election in March 1999, it is highly doubtful whether there is an independent judiciary to address the issues on the law pertaining to the electoral process. Many election petitions were filed and some already heard in court. Almost all the cases that have been heard to-date, have been dismissed on technical grounds, not on merit. Decisions of the courts are final and there is no appeal for election related cases.
From the findings of the election observation and monitoring carried out as reported herein and from the preliminary assessment laid down above, it has been observed that at the most, only two out of the eleven requirements for free elections described in section 5.0, could be said to have been met, i.e.:
Elections do take place regularly within the prescribed time limits
All seats in the major legislative chamber are usually contested
It is fairly obvious that, even at this preliminary stage, the recent 1999 General Election fell far short from being free and fair. Referring again to section 5.0, it is clear that:
A large number of the adult citizens eligible to vote were denied the right to vote due to the weaknesses in the existing electoral system
Judging from the manner the Election Commission has handled major issues relating to the electoral process, especially pertaining to the electoral register and the administration of the postal vote, their level of competence and impartiality is highly questionable
The votes garnered to not come close to reflecting the actual representation afforded to the different parties under the existing electoral system
Reports and complaints were received that certain groups were denied the opportunity to form political parties by the Registrar of Societies
the existing electoral system does not provide a fair opportunity for opposition political parties to sufficiently put forward themselves as alternatives form which the voters can choose
opposition parties were not, directly or indirectly, given reasonable opportunities to carry out their campaign to present their views
both the local broadcasting and print media coverage's were clearly one-sided and blatantly biased towards the ruling coalition
the manner in which the Election Commission had conducted the recent elections has led many to be of the opinion that the secrecy and freedom to cast votes especially among the armed forces and police, as well as the integrity of the counting process and reporting of the votes cast, is highly doubtful whether the judiciary is sufficiently independent to be able to interpret and address the issues relating to the electoral law and process.
20 December 1999
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