Pakatan's mammoth rally to demand clean, fair polls

Aidila Razak 1:14PM Oct 3, 2012

Pakatan Rakyat will hold a "mammoth rally" at the Bukit Jalil national stadium on Nov 3 to back the demand for clean and fair elections.

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu (left) said today that the rally will focus on demands by Bersih, the coalition for clean and fair elections, that have yet to be fulfilled.

In particular, the gathering will focus on a clean electoral roll and free access for political parties to the media.

Mohamad, who is better known as Mat Sabu, said however that the rally will not be a "continuation" of the Bersih 3.0 rally held on April 28.

All the same, he said, Pakatan would invite NGOs such as Bersih to take part in it and urge all participants to dress in yellow, Bersih's official colour.

He said that the rally, themed 'Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat' (People's rising), "continues Bersih's demands" as these have been raised many times with the Election Commission, to no avail.

"The electoral roll is doubtful and we doubt the EC's ability to hold a clean election. For example....four million voters have no address, 300,000 have (Mykad) numbers that do not tally ... this all needs clarification from the EC," he said.

Asked if Pakatan is hijacking Bersih's cause and riding on its popularity, PKR vice-president Tian Chua said a clean electoral roll is not just a concern for Bersih or Pakatan alone.

"BN is welcome to have a rally on this, too, as this issue has been of concern to the BN component parties in Sabah too," he said.