New rules to ensure no hanky panky in PKR elections

KUALA LUMPUR: New rules have been agreed on by the PKR central election committee (JPP) to ensure that there will be less fiddling between polling officers and voters, says incumbent PKR Wanita Chief Zuraida Kamaruddin.

"This is to make sure that there will be no more cases of polling officers being friendly with party voters," said Zuraida.

She stated that she and a few others had met the JPP to further tighten the rules during the party elections, currently taking place nationwide.

"We have agreed to a few new rules which we will follow today (Oct 13) to further tighten up the ongoing election.

"This will ensure that polling officers do not pressure the e-voters, or press the tab for them to avoid suspicions, which may make the results unfair," said Zuraida.

She did not elaborate on the exact nature of the rules.

Zuraida was speaking to reporters at a UN World Habitat Day function at PPR Beringin here on Saturday (Oct 13).

Last week, she had raised the issue of the neutrality of polling officers, and said there were those among them who belonged to certain camps.

There were also videos circulating on the social media alleging that polling officers were assisting party members to e-vote.

On allegations that there was a sudden increase of members in certain branches, Zuraida said this was also conveyed to the JPP.

"We have also reported to the election committee on the drastic increase in membership in Julau, Sarawak, and we will let the committee investigate this," she said. 

The PKR branch in Julau was reported to have had an overnight spike in members – from only 603 on June 26 to 13,000 a day later.

Selangor, which has one of the highest numbers of PKR members, is set to e-vote from today (Oct 14) to Oct 28 in three stages.

The state is one of the biggest banks of PKR voters at 22,000, and Selangor's PKR polls will be watched closely to see whether it will tip the current results in the race for the position of deputy president.

The race is most heated between incumbent deputy poresident Azmin and former vice president Rafizi Ramli, who is now neck and neck with hsi rival with only one vote separating them.

Zuraida also said she was optimistic that Azmin would be remembered by PKR members for what he had done for Selangor during his tenure as the Mentri Besar of the state.

"Being the head of PKR Selangor, Azmin's record speaks for itself," said Zuraida, who is known to be from Azmin's camp.

The party elections started on Sept 22 and will end on Nov 10. The results will be announced in mid-November at the PKR national convention in mid-November.