By NNN-Bernama
Penang, Malaysia : Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says the government will ensure that this Saturday’s general election is conducted credibly although the Election Commission (EC) has been forced to cancel its plan to use indelible ink to identify voters during the voting process.
“We want the election to be credible so that our victory too is credible. I want that more than anything else,” he told an election rally Wednesday in this northern Malaysian state where he is contesting a parliamentary seat in the country’s 12th general election.
He said that God willing, the ruling National Front coalition would be returned to power on Saturday. The front, and its percursor, the Alliance, has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957, winning all 11 previous general elections with more than two-thirds majorities.
Abdullah said the opposition parties, who were certain to lose, were hoping to cover their weaknesses by blaming the cancellation of the use of the indelible ink for their likely defeat and were claiming they were being cheated.
He said it was the Election Commission (EC) which will run Saturday’s elections, was the same obne which had been carrying out general elections for a long time and knew what they had to do. He added that the EC and police would ensure incident-free polling on Saturday.
Meanwhile, EC Chairman Rashind Abdul Rahman said the commission’s decision to cancel the use of indelible ink during the voting process was not done solely on the advice of the police but was also based on the federal Constitution.
Abdul Rashid said the police only gave their views in terms of the security aspects, but the over-riding factor in making the decision was constitutional considerations.
“If we were to proceed (with the use of the ink), it could be deemed we are violating the rights of voters as we would be forcing them to undergo the ink marking,” he said in an interview over a local television network.
He added that he very much wanted to have the ink used during this election but the legal experts had warned against it on the grounds of voters’ rights.
Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan, who also appeared on the interview programme, said police investigations showed there were certain quarters which planned to misuse the ink thjey had imported by themselves to create chaos.
The EC announced Tuesday that it was withdrawing use of the indelible ink to identify those who had voted to ensure no double voting by certain people.