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So Intan Payung, Loud and the rest will have chance
to vote for the first time!
Malaysian opposition to file lawsuit to halt electionKUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 (AFP) - A Malaysian oppostion party said Tuesday it
would file a lawsuit to try to halt the November 29 election in protest at the
exclusion of some 680,000 new electors.
Lim Kit Siang, secretary general of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), told AFP the suit would be filed Wednesday against the Election Commission for denying the rights of the new voters. The plaintiff will be K.S. Jomo, an economics professor at University Malaya, who is one of the new voters, Lim said. "It is unconstitutional to deny the 680,000 people the right to vote and the election Commission must postponed the elections until the new voters are registered," he said. "The general election is once in five years. The commission should have taken pains to ensure that these new voters can exercise their rights." In a statement he described the exclusion of the voters as not only "a blot and shame" but also unlawful and unconstitutional. The electors registered in April or May, most of them after reaching the voting age of 21. But the Election Commission says it will not be able to check and process the names to include them on the electoral roll till next January. Opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of calling a snap election this month to exclude the mainly young voters, presumed to be more radical than their elders. He has denied the charge. In a statement, Lim cited an article in the constitution to justify his contention that the young voters are already qualified to vote. Lim, a lawyer by profession, said the party would demand a new date so the new voters could exercise their rights. "Apart from acting unconstitutionally, the Election Commission has made Malaysia an international laughing-stock in needing nine months to revise the electoral register..." Lim's statement said. "In an era of information technology and electronic government, the tenth Malaysian general election is really scandalous in disenfranchising the 650,000 new voters." Mahathir Tuesday was selecting candidates for his ruling coalition ahead of nomination day on Saturday. An aide to a minister told AFP the final list of candidates from the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), dominant partner in the National Front coalition, had not yet been finalised. The aide, who declined to be identified, said Mahathir must ensure a proposed candidate was "morally fit". "The candidate must be able to win the seat and must be loyal to the party," he said, adding the list was expected to be finalised by Wednesday. A top member of the ruling coalition told AFP Saturday that Mahathir must pick candidates he could trust to stay loyal in party elections next year. Mahathir recently admitted that some UMNO members were still supportive of his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, whom he sacked in September 1998 and who was jailed in April for six years for abuse of official power. Anwar is the prime ministerial candidate of an opposition alliance which includes the DAP and the National Justice Party headed by his wife. But he disappeared from public view this week after his current sodomy trial was adjourned indefinitely. Anwar, in a statement Tuesday, called for his trial to resume as soon as possible and said he "deeply regrets" the indefinite postponement. He said he was concerned "that the postponement of the case without a date and reasons being given will give the wrong impression to the people on the integrity and independence of the judiciary as an institution." Anwar's wife Wan Azizah told AFP Monday the postponement might have been prompted to halt contacts in court between party members including herself and her husband. "This (trial) is the only way my husband can reveal wrongdoing and corruption in high places and the only way to stop him is to stop the trial," she added. The government says the courts operate independently of it. It denies allegations of graft. |
