Tuesday May 7, 2013

GE13: Bersih to wait and see on new government

KUALA LUMPUR: Bersih 2.0 is withholding its recognition of the newly-elected government until it has investigated reports of electoral fraud received.

This comes in the wake of the elections on Sunday, which Bersih said had been marred by claims of fraud, phantom voters and other irregularities during the casting and counting of ballots.

Bersih co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said that Bersih, through its Pemantau initiative, has been made aware of numerous reports of such incidents.

“We are calling for anyone who has first-hand information of fraud or other irregularities to come forward to make police reports and to share the information.

“We also encourage all candidates who have suffered as a result of electoral fraud and other irregularities to file election petitions,” Ambiga told reporters yesterday.

Ambiga added that the coalition would convene a People's Tribunal, comprising individuals from within Malaysia and abroad in a week's time to consider the evidence and to hear from witnesses.

Ambiga, at a press conference, also blasted the Election Commission (EC) over its poor handling of the electoral process and called for the resignation of all its commissioners.

Pointing out the indelible ink fiasco, Ambiga said the EC had “failed miserably during the elections. Their explanation of why the indelible ink could easily be washed off totally defies logic. It also raises questions of why so much money, RM10mil actually, was spent on ink that doesn't stay on the finger.”

Meanwhile, some people had started an online petition on change.org addressed to the United Nations for an intervention.

The petition has been signed by 124,844 people as of press time.

Similarly, netizens have started a petition to the US White House calling for solidarity support over the issue.

The petition has 203,490 signatures as of 1pm.

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

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