KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — The Election Commission (EC) has shot down the DAP’s claim of a discrepancy between the turnout and total ballots cast on polling day for the Teluk Intan by-election, insisting the party had erred in its own tally of the votes.
EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof was reported by English daily New Straits Times today as saying that DAP’s election strategist Dr Ong Kian Ming had failed to take into account the number of spoilt postal and early votes.
“DAP had discounted the 49 spoilt votes made by postal and early voters,” Aziz was quoted as saying.
Aziz reportedly said that if the 49 spoilt votes made by postal and early voters were added to the 20,157 votes for Barisan Nasional (BN), 19,919 votes for the DAP, and 543 spoilt votes on polling day, it would lead to a total of the 40,668 ballot papers used.
The EC chairman said Ong was mistaken in his calculations that a total of 40,619 votes had been cast, as that figure only included the total votes won by BN and the DAP, and the spoilt votes on polling day, but not the spoilt postal and early votes.
He added that Ong’s figure of a 40,242-voter turnout, which was based on the unofficial voter turnout at 5.30pm on polling day last Saturday and 392 early votes, was also incorrect.
“That (40,242) was not the figure we have come up with. That is a flawed calculation and that is how they have come up with the wrong figures in the first place,” said Aziz.
“The DAP members were not there during the official announcement of results so they did not know the real figures and data we have collected.
“And the figures and data were also agreed by DAP agents or observers at all voting streams before they were finalised in Form 14,” he added.
Aziz said that 67.4 per cent out of 60,349 registered voters in the Teluk Intan federal constituency in Perak had turned out to cast their ballots in the by-election.
The total votes tallied were 40,076, which was derived from 40,668 total ballot papers used minus 543 spoilt votes on polling day and minus 49 spoilt postal and early votes.
Ong, who is also Serdang MP, said yesterday that 40,619 votes had been cast in the by-election, but that the turnout was only 40,242 voters, including early voters, which led to a discrepancy of 377 votes, more than BN’s winning majority of 238 votes.
Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong defeated DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud in the Teluk Intan by-election by just 238 votes.
- Malay Mail-
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