BY HAFIZAN TAIB
PETALING JAYA, JUL 13: The Election Commission (EC) should respect the court’s decision and not proceed with the proposed delineation of electoral boundaries as they had wished to do.
The Steering Committee of the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) 2.0 said the call is made referring to Bernama news report last July 7.
According to the committee, the report entitled “EC continue probe on Selangor delineation” was amended to “EC to continue probe on delineation in Semenanjung except Selangor, Malacca”.
In that report, the EC Chairman was also quoted to have said that the Kuala Lumpur High Court rejected Selangor Government’s request, for injunction against EC from conducting a second round of probe, except for Selangor and Malacca.
Following that, it stated that there is a confusion in the report as there is a standing order from the Kuala Lumpur High Court for first local investigation for Selangor, last December, which means, delineation of electoral boundaries in that state is suspended until the judicial review process completes.
“The court’s decision last July 5, is a further restraint on EC on their decision, which has never happened before, to issue notice of second delineation of electoral boundaries, excluding Selangor.
“The order does not allow EC to complete its delineation process without Selangor, and the judge firmly stated that there is no decision on constitutional exemption of Selangor in the second notice as the applicant is satisfied with the injunction.
“In addition to Selangor, there is also a standing order given by the Malacca High Court last May, for a second local investigation, which means EC cannot complete its delineation until the judicial review on Malacca completes,” he said in a media statement.
The committee added that, EC’s intention to issue a second notice with the exemption on Selangor is worrying as it ignores the standing order on Selangor and it proves that the commission is relentlessly rejecting the transition although constitutional issues are raised in that case.
Following thatm BERSIH 2.0 and the citizens have no choice but to react with more court orders against EC.
“Besides Selangor and Malacca, there are five more cases relating to delineation of electoral boundaries involving Perak, Johore, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan.
“EC should not have proceeded with the notice and second probe as there is a serious constitutional issue, on the contrary, they should wait until it is resolved.
“BERSIH 2.0 is not against delineation, but it must be done fairly and according to the laws and Federal Constitution, however EC has rejected this principle and has taken an unprecedented action,” it said.
BERSIH 2.0: EC should respect court
