EC man says voting system secure, transparent

August 01, 2011

A man dips his finger in indelible ink after voting at a polling station in El Alto, during the Bolivian presidential election, January 25, 2009. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — Despite a proposal for a biometric verification system to root out phantom voters, an Election Commission (EC) official today came out to defend the current voting system as transparent and secure.

EC public relations officer Sabri Said added that the commission had abandoned the use of indelible ink during the last national polls — despite having already purchased it in bulk — because its application may possibly deny voters from exercising their right to the ballot.

“Apart from security, the proposal was also found to be in conflict with Clause (1) Article 119 of the Federal Constitution, which guarantees the right of a registered voter to vote unless he is disqualified under the laws relating to elections,” Sabri said in a statement today.

The officer then said the EC viewed allegations of phantom and repeat voters seriously, hence the initial purchase of the indelible ink, but added that the phenomenon has yet to be proven.

Putrajaya agreed on July 23 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.

When announcing the allocation, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the system was one of the initiatives undertaken by the EC to ensure transparency in the country’s elections.

The proposal has been met with mixed response, with Bersih maintaining its demand for indelible ink to be used in the coming general election until the biometric proposal was fully fleshed out.