KOTA KINABALU, Oct 20 — As more questions are raised over the unusual spike in new voter registrations in Sabah’s electoral roll, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor promised to get the Election Commission (EC) to clarify the issue.

He said that he will ask the EC for a briefing soon, to find out the reason behind the half a million increase in voters in Sabah.

"We also want to know the reason behind the numbers because people are doubtful as it seems like too big an increase.

"We will decide if any action should be taken based on what the EC tells us,” he said.

Hajiji, who is leading the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional state government, said he was aware of a number of personalities who have expressed their concern about the figures.

He said that it could be due to automatic registration, which means that many who were well above 18 years of age had yet to be registered.

"But I dare not make a claim until we have more info,” he said.

Earlier this week, Sabah Progressive Party, one of the components of the GRS government, said that there was a worrying 53.9 per cent increase from the 1,064,686 in the year 2008 to 1,638,806 this year.

Party president Datuk Yong Teck Lee called on the EC to conduct a forensic audit on the increase, saying many of the new voters were aged above 30 years old while some were in their 60s.

In some districts, the number of voters increased by over 70 per cent.

His concerns were echoed by Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) and Parti Bersatu Sabah.

However, Warisan information chief Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman took the critics to task for making assumptions in supposed bad faith that the new voters were non-Malaysians.

"This is embarrassing of them, considering that the automatic registration was done by the EC in compliance with the motion passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

"Shame on Jeffrey and GRS for assuming they are illegal immigrants. The new voters are Malaysians with constitutional rights to vote,” he said, referring to STAR president Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.

He accused Kitingan of trying to use the illegal immigrant issue to fool Sabahans during the coming general election.