We want solutions, not excuses, Bersih tells EC

Electoral reform pressure group Bersih has chided the Election Commission for giving excuses instead of providing solutions to problems pointed out in the electoral roll.

"Instances of electoral fraud are dismissed as clerical errors and one-off mistakes. In its latest booklet, the EC continues to portray itself as powerless to address the concerns raised.

"Passing the buck to the National Registration Department (NRD) is a convenient excuse and does not show the EC's sincerity in wanting to maintain a clean, accurate and up to date electoral roll,"said the group in a statement.

The group was responding to the latest booklet titled 'Electoral Roll: Issues and Clarifications' published by the commission which contained explanations on various inconsistencies in the electoral roll unearthed by Bersih and civil society, but devoid of any solutions to address the issues.

What the EC is doing said Bersih, smacks of a mistaken placement of priorities by the commission, whose efforts at cleaning up the electoral roll, at present it believes to be "superficial" and fails to address irregularities and fraud that plague the electoral roll.

Amongst issues that Bersih said has been glossed over by EC in their explanation are:

• Dubious voters in the electoral roll
• Dubious new electors from the army and police
• Confused genders, same name and/or same date of birth
• Electors with incomplete addresses

Bersih demanded that the Najib administration make sure the EC carry out a thorough audit on the electoral roll to weed out all dubious voters before the next election.