PETALING JAYA: The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) has proposed a guideline to prevent the Federal Government from gaining undue advantage during the six state elections.
The election watchdog's chairman Thomas Fann said the guideline was proposed for Federal Government ministers to follow and prevent them from misusing their authority from gaining support from the voters in the six state elections.
“We are facing a situation where there are no guidelines or laws to regulate the activities of the federal government which is not in caretaker mode in the six states facing its elections.
“Lately, we have been seeing a number of announcements made by the Prime Minister and federal ministers involving the six states that will be going for elections soon,” he said in a press conference on Thursday (July 20).
Fann also reminded the caretaker government for each state in the upcoming polls to refer to the guideline so that they do not abuse their state resources to gain support from the voters.
Fann said the proposal or "No to 3Cs (No Conditions, No Campaigning and No Candidates)" principles should also apply to the conduct of non-caretaker state governments during federal elections.
He said there should be no conditions attached to fulfilment of the announcement or allocations promised to the voters such as when the parties or candidates win during the state polls.
“Any commitments made by the federal government should be fulfilled regardless of the outcome of the state elections.
“We also call for 'No campaigning' during official federal functions where references are made to the upcoming elections, names of parties or candidates are mentioned, and party symbols or flags are displayed.
“No allocations are to be made selectively for constituencies to help certain parties wrest or retain such areas,” he said.
The last guideline, Fann added that no candidates should be present in Federal Government functions unless they are also federal ministers themselves when special announcements or allocations are made.
The state elections in Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan will be held on Aug 12, with early polling on Aug 8.
Pakatan Harapan-led states - Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Penang - decided to sit out GE15 held in October last year citing the year-end flood season as the main reason.
Fann also said Bersih would continue to monitor elements of 3R (race, religion and royalty) being used by politicians throughout the campaigning period of the six state polls.
“We certainly have been seeing elements of 3R being used by both political sides to win or hold on to votes.
“This is a great concern as we are concerned about the after-effects (of the 3R element being used) among the public.
“The use of the 3R elements would cause unnecessary issues (among the people) and politicians should instead provide their commitment by doing what the people want,” he said.
