OPPOSITION lawmaker Rafizi Ramli has urged voters in Pakatan Harapan strongholds to volunteer as Polling Agent Counting Agents (PACA) in the next general election to prevent electoral fraud.

The head of Invoke, a PKR-linked think tank, said trained PACAs placed at 50 opposition-targeted “marginal seats” were a way to prevent fraud, while the number of votes the volunteers gave up would be negligible and not affect the results.

“I’m calling voters in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur and Pakatan Harapan’s strongholds in major cities; I encourage you not to vote in the next general election and become a PACA instead. 

“If we can get 500 people from each of 15 hardcore Harapan seats, that will translate to about 6,000 people and that will help a lot,” the Pandan MP said in a press conference today. 

He said seats such as Bukit Bintang, Seputeh, Petaling Utara, Pandan, Kepong and Cheras were won with a comfortable 20,000 to 30,000 majority.

“Barisan Nasional has given up on these seats. Even if they add 2,000 phantom voters, we will not lose these areas. So I’m asking for as many voters as possible from these areas.” 

He said It was difficult to recruit volunteers from areas with urban middle-class due to their scepticism of political parties. 

“Electoral fraud has taken place every election whether those electoral frauds directly violated electoral laws or were indirect corruption, it will continue to happen.

“We will not change unless we stop talking and complaining and do something about it, and this is where Malaysians, especially the urban middle-class, must play their part.”

He added that Invoke had trained only around 1,000 PACAs in the past six months due to lack of public participation. 

“It’s very worrying because we need around 20,000 PACAs. Participation from the public is low,” he said, adding that volunteers  should not wait till the last minute to register.

“Everything will be handled by Invoke, we need the names early so that we can match the right volunteers to the right constituency,” he said. 

Invoke also launched the PACA handbook at the press conference. – June 20, 2017.