KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that there were too many flaws within the Malaysian electoral system that have yet to be addressed by the Election Commission (EC).
In a post on his Facebook account, the former two-time prime minister brought up the issue of voters being allowed to bring along their mobile phones when voting, saying that it could threaten voter secrecy, which in turn could lead to information being used for bribes.
“Can’t the EC ban the practice of bringing along a mobile phone while voting?” the incumbent Langkawi MP asked, adding that there were many other weaknesses in the system, which he did not name, that must be addressed before the upcoming general election (GE15).
He explained that voters could use their phone to show that they had cast their vote for a certain party in return for money from said party.
His statement follows an announcement from the EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh stating that GE15 will be held on November 19 while early polling will be held on November 15.
Dr Mahathir expressed similar worries during a press conference in Putrajaya yesterday, in which he alleged that ruling coalition Barisan National would resort to various means to remain in power.
“I suspect Umno and BN want to make sure as few people as possible turn out to vote so they can ferry or transport their own people to vote by paying them.
“They will have their people travelling with them, giving money and we object to all this, and we object to people taking in their handphones to polling centres as they will video or photograph themselves and their vote for rewards later,” he claimed.
