'Undo amendment that casts electoral roll in stone'

The National Institute for Electoral Integrity (NIEI) has called for the restoration of judicial powers to allow the courts to challenge the validity of the electoral roll.

“The recommendation, among others, is to abolish the ouster clause, Section 9A of the Election Act 1958, that prohibits judicial scrutiny on the electoral roll immediately...” said NIEI acting chairperson K Shan in a statement today.

The Election Commission (EC), in the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform report tabled in Parliament today, had said it was powerless to address dubious voters in the master electoral roll.

This is despite some 200,000 dubious voters in the electoral roll which has been discovered by state technoloy agency Mimos Bhd.

The PSC has recommended for the drafting of new laws, empowering the EC to perform the corrections, to be tabled in the next Parliament sitting.

[More to follow]