Wednesday May 8, 2013

GE13: PKR sets up team to investigate polls 'irregularities'

Anwar gesturing as he takes a seat during a press conference at his party head office in Petaling Jaya. — AFP

PETALING JAYA: PKR has appointed its director of strategies and newly elected Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli to lead a team investigating alleged poll irregularities.

PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Rafizi's team would work closely with Bersih as well as its Pakatan Rakyat partners.

“His team will match the proof against an empirical analysis of the specific constituency result to highlight the constituencies whose result is in dispute,” he told reporters at the PKR headquarters yesterday.

Anwar reiterated PKR's stand that it would not accept the results of Sunday's general election, calling the process flawed and fraudulent.

However, he conceded that not all seats saw “irregularities and fraudulent practices”.

“I concede that we lost fairly in some seats. It's okay. Not all votes are not in order,” he said.

However, he acknowledged that “governments have to go on” when pointed out that PAS had moved ahead with the swearing in of a new Kelantan Mentri Besar.

“We are forming state governments together, there is no question of that. But we are questioning the results in specific areas,” he said.

Anwar will address the public on the matter at a mega rally in Kelana Jaya stadium tonight.

He added that Pakatan's lead in the popular vote in GE13 showed that all Malaysians and not just the Chinese supported the opposition pact.

“Preliminary analyses indicate that support for Pakatan increased throughout the country across the board, especially with younger voters, irrespective of race,” he said.

“They voted in hope of a new Malaysia that Pakatan represents.”

According to data by the Election Commission, Pakatan received 5,623,984 votes for parliamentary constituencies or 52.62% of the popular vote in contrast with Barisan Nasional's 47.38%.

“Their votes demonstrated that we are united in a single Malaysian family,” said Anwar.

He said it was contradictory for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to talk about national reconciliation and yet in the same breath use racial rhetoric by terming the GE13 results a “Chinese tsunami”.

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

More News