THE Election Commission has refuted allegations by electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 that the 14th general election last week was rife with manipulations.

Its chairman, Mohd Hashim Abdullah, said the body didn’t manipulate GE14 to allow certain parties to win.

“All the processes of GE14 were carried out with transparency and fairness without any manipulation aimed at certain parties.

“The EC never interfered in any matters, including the counting and tallying of ballot papers,” Hashim said in a statement yesterday.

Bersih yesterday called for the resignation of seven EC commissioners within 100 days for “its complicity in the attempts to obstruct democracy and the people’s right to vote”.

Hashim said GE14 results, which favoured Pakatan Haparan and the smooth transition of power, were proof that GE14 was conducted in a fair and transparent manner.

“The EC is willing to give its full cooperation to prove that there was no manipulation or wrongdoing during the voting process,” he said.

Hashim said that the voting process was handled by 259,000 election staff appointed among the public and the process was witnessed by agents appointed by the candidates or parties contesting in the polls. – May 15, 2018.