DAP Election Strategist Ong Kian Ming today concurred with citizen monitoring group Pemantau’s findings that there were no incidences of Bangladeshi voters or power blackouts at the polling centres under its observation during the 13th general election.
Ong told FMT today that he was not aware of any foreign voters or blackouts during the national polls in May, but said his party has yet to issue an official stand on the issue.
When asked to comment on Pemantau’s findings, he said: “As far as I know, there were no foreign voters and blackouts so I concur with their view.”
Ong, however, would not comment on the other areas and added that, “there were no such incidences in my constituency.”
Previously, Pemantau reportedly said it did not find irregularities such as power failures and foreign voters in the 87 parliamentary seats that it observed.
“There are reports which say Bentong (constituency) suffered a blackout (during the counting of ballots). When I checked with my colleagues, I was told there was no blackout,” he said, adding that this supported Pemantau’s findings.
Ong had avoided the question of Pakatan Rakyat supremo Anwar Ibrahim’s claim that there were certain documents that proved there were Bangladeshis, Filipinos and Indonesians who were brought in by Barisan Nasional as voters.
On Friday, Bersih steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah confirmed that there was no power failure when asked if observers had witnessed any blackouts as alleged by Pakatan Rakyat as well as numerous commentators on the social media after the GE.
She also told FMT that: “We also didn’t know about these foreign voters. There were several reports of that but we didn’t see any.”
Maria, however, said she could not vouch for the remaining 135 seats as they “fell outside our observation, so we have no inkling if there were any irregularities.”
Pemantau, which comprised Bersih, Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) and human rights group Pusat Komas, had gathered for its report, witnesses’ accounts of what transpired during the polls such as incidences of political violence, illegal campaigning, conveyance of voters and harassment of election observers.
Proponents of clean and fair elections, which included several Pakatan Rakyat leaders and activists, had previously claimed to have first-hand information on electoral fraud and video clips to support their allegation.
Meanwhile, Bersih said it was withholding recognition of the BN government until it had convened a tribunal to collate evidence and called witnesses facilitate their investigation on this.
After the GE 13, Anwar claimed that more than 40,000 dubious voters from Sabah and Sarawak had entered the country on chartered flights allegedly arranged by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and had “credible documentary evidence” to support his claims.
After ruling Barisan Nasional’s win, Anwar vowed to stay in his post and lead a campaign to challenge the results of the general election that handed his coalition a controversial defeat.
For more details on Pemantau’s findings, the report can be downloaded from www.bersih.org
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