THE Election Commission’s failure to clean up the electoral roll has created a dangerous opportunity for “irresponsible parties” to arrange for phantom voters on polling day this Wednesday, said electoral reform watchdog Bersih 2.0.

Acting Bersih 2.0 chairman Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari said more than 2.5 million voters have been compromised at 14^th general election.

“The EC has failed to maintain a clean and accurate electoral roll. I mean at least 15% of voters (2.12 million) in the roll have incomplete or no addresses.

“And a further 500,000 voters are being registered using similar, or non-existing addresses,” Shahrul said at the Bersih 2.0 office in Petaling Jaya today.

“Millions of voters. I mean, this is a lot. This is such a big number. I think the excuse by EC that they are not aware of this is not acceptable because this is so big an issue.”

There are 14.8 million voters nationwide eligible to participate in these elections, according to the EC.

In Bersih 2.0’s preliminary findings report released today, the grouping said many voters were deliberately and illegally transferred to marginal constituencies by political parties to sway the results, resulting in “abnormally higher number of voters” being registered with dubious addresses.

“Over the past three weeks, many voters have discovered problems with their registration in the electoral roll upon checking.

“Voters have found that they were removed or missing from the electoral roll, transferred to other constituencies without the consent, and names of those deceased were still on the electoral roll,” Shahrul said.

He added that complaints have been filed with the EC but no action has been taken.

Shahrul said flaws in the electoral roll may pave the way for “irresponsible parties” to organise phantom voters to vote illegally on May 9.

However, EC chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah yesterday denied that phantom voters existed, accusing critics of trying to paint a negative impression of the commission. – May 6, 2018.