KOTA KINABALU, MAY 27- The election figures released by the Election Commission are raising eyebrows here.
With Malaysia’s registered voters numbering 13.3 million and the average turnout said to be 80%, this should translate into about 10.6 million votes cast.
But talk among polls watchers and the internet is that the total number of vote slips counted on May 5 was higher than this.
The discrepancy is baffling minds here. Many observers now want the Election Commission, better known as SPR, to explain the discrepancy.
They have also raised questions over the delay in releasing accurate data on the final tally.
Already in Sabah, surprised voters said they were confused by “the very high turnout” when in their view the turnout could be only between 65% to 72%, or even lower in some areas.
A voter here who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed that when he came to vote at about 1.30pm on the polling day on May 5, he found only three or four names underlined (a mark that they had voted) on the same page his name appeared.
“How could it be the turnout was that high … more than 80%?” he asked.
Another voter from Kota Belud who said he came to cast his vote only after 4pm, less than one hour before polls closed, also claimed that he too saw only a few names underlined on the same page his name was on.
“What intrigued me more was that we found out that the counting agents of political parties in certain counting stations were not given a copy of the Form 14 that spells out the final tally for the (various) streams in the polling station.
“I am not sure if the political parties did find out whether the final records announced at the tallying centre in the town were similar to those recorded in the various polling stations,” he said.
These polls watchers also claimed it was difficult for them to audit the overall votes cast during the election but teams are now scrutinising the results as they have been gazetted and are accessible.
“Already we have some very interesting cases in Sabah, as well as in peninsula, for the election judge to see,” said a PKR insider who claimed knowledge of possible election petitions for a few seats in Sabah.
“Wait for Rafizi Ramli or our headquarters to say this in a few days or weeks time, that would reveal the fraud people are talking about,” he said adding that SPR itself was in for a surprise from courts findings.
