SPR akui pindahkan 14,000 pengundi Hulu Selangor tanpa notis! Halau ke Selayang

Tindakan SPR memandai-mandai memindahkan 14,000 pengundi-pengundi di kawasan parlimen Hulu Selangor ke kawasan lain tanpa notis dikritik hebat oleh pelbagai pihak termasuk bekas Presiden Majlis Peguam, Ambiga. Tindakan yang jelas mengatasi Parlimen dan menyalahi Perlembagaan Persekutuan ini tidak boleh diselesaikan dengan SPR meminta maaf selepas pilihanraya kecil dan laporan polis perlu dibuat sekarang! Keratan akhbar disertakan.

The Sun 23 April 1010
by Karen Arukesamy

KUALA LUMPUR (April 22, 2010): The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) said today the Election Commission (EC) had acted "unconstitutionally" by transferring 228 voters out of the Hulu Selangor to Selayang constituency.

Calling it "electoral delineation", a spokesman of the re-launched civil society Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said in doing so, the EC had caused ordinary voters to be effectively "disenfranchised".

The EC, which had admitted to transferring 228 voters out of the Hulu Selangor constituency into the Selayang constituency, had also deprived the voters of their constitutional rights to choose their representatives to Parliament, she said.

"The EC cannot authorise the transfer of voters from one constituency to another on its own accord. It is not up to the EC to do this. Any electoral delineation can only take place once every 10 years pursuant to Schedule 13 of the Federal Constitution."

"In between delineation exercises, voters can apply to change their constituencies when they move residence," said Ambiga.

The election body had reportedly admitted that it had not notified all the voters.

"It is not a simple mistake that can be excused by an apology and this is certainly not the time to apologise," Ambiga said, hitting out at EC’s move with the Hulu-Selangor by-election in just two days time.

She said EC’s action was clearly a violation of the Federal Constitution and that it has usurped the functions of Parliament as delineation is under the purview of Parliament.

Bersih also raised its concerns on the allegations of irregularities concerning the polling station for voters to cast their votes on Sunday.

"We understand that nearly 14,000 registered voters in the Hulu Selangor constituency have been reassigned to polling centres different from the ones designated for them in the 2008 general election," she said.

The EC has explained that this is to provide convenience to voters from travelling far from their residential area to the polling stations.

However, Ambiga said the extremely brief campaigning period means that there is insufficient time to notify each of the 14,000 registered voters of their new polling centres.

Anticipating confusion and chaos at the polling stations, she urged voters to check their polling stations early to avoid having to move from one station to another to cast their votes.

"The EC has to be responsible for the confusions and chaos that is going to take place, when voters turn up at their usual polling centre only to discover that they will have to travel elsewhere to cast their vote," she said.

The ensuing confusion will also undoubtedly cause many, especially those who have to rely on public transport, which may result in senior citizen voters giving up and just return home without voting.

"It is not a question of who these voters, who have been transferred support, it is about small number of voters causing big election outcomes."said Lawyer Andrew Koo, a representative from the Bar Council, which is also part of the coalition.

"The EC’s sudden move also looks like it is trying to influence the outcome of the by-election results," he said, adding that the manner of the transfer was "unconstitutional".

Representative from the Research For Social Advancement (Refsa) Richard Yeoh urged the Selangor state government to assist the voters by providing buses to transport the voters from one polling centre to another, so that they would get in time to the centres to cast the votes.

Bersih urged all voters who affected by these changes to take it up upon the EC, lodge police report and not leave the matter aside. --theSun "

Nampaknya, ada kebenaran saranan kepimpinan Pakatan selama ini bahawa Pakatan bukan sahaja terpaksa berdepan dengan media UMNO dan jentera UMNO, malah terpaksa berdepan dengan SPR.
Kalau kita lihat dari sudut bola sepak (memandangkan World Cup dah dekat), kita bukan setakat berdepan dengan referee yang sedikit tidak adil tetapi kita berdepan dengan seorang referee yang menjaringkan beberapa gol untuk pihak lawan..