KUALA LUMPUR: All stakeholders in an election should be free from all forms of bribery and vote buying, said electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 today.
Bersih 2.0 said a level playing field should be created for all election candidates and political parties, adding that any government machinery should not be abused.
Campaigning activities, it said, should not be carried out in contradiction with international principles on free and fair elections.
Bersih 2.0 also expressed support for Election Commission chairman Azhar Azizan Harun’s recent statement, in which he said other election candidates should be accorded the same treatment as Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was allowed to enter a military camp in Port Dickson.
The Bersih 2.0 steering committee, in a statement issued today, said they shared the same concerns expressed by Lukut state assemblyman Choo Ken Hwa, who raised the issue of free dinners to be given to some 3,000 people in his constituency.
“Such dinners are no different from the feast thrown by Jho Low in Penang during the 13th General Election. We call for the dinner event to be postponed until after the by-election.”
The committee quoted Section Eight of the “Election Offences Act“, which prohibits treating of food, drink, refreshment or provision to induce voters to vote for a particular candidate.
“We would also like to draw attention of all candidates and political parties to Section 15A of the same Act, which prohibits expenses incurred by any person other than the candidate, his election agent and persons authorised in writing by the election agent in election campaign, whether it is for an open public meeting, open public rally or open public entertainment.
“Section 19 further sets the limit of election campaign expenses to be capped at RM200,000 for parliament seat.”
Therefore, Bersih said, the expenses incurred in the free concert in PD during the by-election should be borne by the candidate, his election agent or person authorised by the election agent and be included in the financial statement of the candidate’s election campaign expenditure.
The committee was referring to the two-day, free-of-charge PICNIC@PD concert at the PD Waterfront last Saturday, jointly organised by Pertubuhan Khidmat Kebajikan Masyarakat Madani, the Anwar Ibrahim Club (AIC) and Muafakat Anak Muda.
The event drew about 2,000 people, including Anwar and his wife, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The PD by-election on Oct 13 sees a seven-cornered fight. Anwar faces Pas candidate Lieutenant-Colonel (Rtd) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar and five other independent candidates — former Negri Sembilan menteri besar Tan Sri Isa Abdul Samad, Anwar’s former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Stevie Chan Keng Leong, Lau Seck Yan and Kan Chee Yuen.
The PD seat was vacated by Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah of PKR to enable Anwar to contest and become a member of Parliament.
The parliamentary constituency, a PKR stronghold since 2008, has five state constituencies within it – Chuah and Lukut, held by DAP; Bagan Pinang and Linggi, held by Barisan Nasional (BN), and Sri Tanjung, held by PKR.