THE PKR polls’ e-voting process in Pensiangan, Sabah, was disrupted after the online network was cut off. 

According to sources, the disruption occurred for a few hours from about noon, while the voting process was ongoing. 

“We called the telco company to check what happened and they deployed their men to check the cables,” a source said. 

“They found two fibre cables had been cut, as if a sharp cutting object had been used.”  

Another source said it was suspected the lines had been cut intentionally to sabotage the voting process. 

“Pensiangan is deputy president candidate Rafizi Ramli’s stronghold. The culprits could have cut any telco line, but the lines cut were the ones the voting process depended upon,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

The line was down for about four hours. The voting process continued after technicians fixed the lines.  

A source said about 5,000 voters had turned up at the polling centre but only 1,500 managed to vote before the line was disrupted. 

“The voting continued offline when this happened but the election monitors needed some time to sync data with its servers after they were back online,” said the source. 

The source said based on the number of members at the centre, the party’s central election comittee (JPP) may be forced to extend voting hours there. 

“The voting process needs about six to seven hours to allow everyone to vote.” – November 4, 2018.