Friday May 3, 2013

GE13: PM’s Office denies flying in phantom voters

KUALA LUMPUR: The Prime Minister's Office has denied the Opposition's claim that it was involved in flying in Malaysians and foreigners into the peninsula to vote in Sunday's polls.

In a brief statement reported by Bernama, a government spokesman said: “The Prime Minister's office denies any involvement in these flights The Election Commission has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the electoral system is stronger than ever, and the elections are free and fair.”

Malaysia Airlines has also denied allegations that it was deploying chartered flights to transport the alleged “phantom voters”.

“Malaysia Airlines wishes to clarify that all chartered flights in the national carrier's system are commercial chartered flights,” the national airlines said in a statement.

In a statement issued, Barisan Nasional secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said there was “no substance whatsoever to opposition allegations that passengers were anything other than registered Malaysian voters.”

He added that the flights were organised and paid for by friends of Barisan and “brought registered voters to their home districts so that they may vote in the upcoming election.”

Tengku Adnan said many organisations and political parties conducted “get out the vote” campaigns.

“The Opposition itself has chartered buses to bring voters back from Singapore, and Bersih, an NGO connected to the Opposition, has paid for Malaysians to fly back from Shanghai and Hong Kong.

“The Opposition is casting doubts on the fairness of the electoral system in a cynical attempt to undermine Malaysia's democracy,” he said.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

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