PETALING JAYA: The PKR elections, which started last Friday, have run straight into controversy with a candidate for deputy president alleging possible foul play, but this has been brushed off as a “minor hiccup” by those in charge of the polls.

Election committee chairman Dr Zaliha Mustafa, however, admitted that there were lots of complaints nationwide.

She said the committee would scrutinise all the complaints lodged at the party’s official website.

“I will ask the complaints panel to expedite their investigation on all the complaints, especially all the urgent ones,” she said.

The controversy erupted when Rafizi Ramli, who is vying for the deputy presidency, claimed that some people could vote more than once.

Earlier, he had also complained that there were about 54,000 “ghost voters” in the party nationwide.

That claim too had been dismissed, with an explanation that it could be due to the manual registration of members in the early years.

Rafizi has since lodged a formal report to the party’s election committee, raising various weaknesses in the electoral system, including how some people could vote multiple times on behalf of others.

He also alleged that some voters were not given a slip that could limit them to one vote.

Among others, election committee officials only check the details of members and allow them to vote without observation.

“This weakness raises the risk of fraud as a voter can bring in a list of members with their identification and vote repeatedly on behalf of others,” Rafizi alleged.

He has also asked that the party polls be postponed until improvements are made to the electoral process.

Zaliha said the committee would look into the complaints.

“So far, officially we have received a few complaints about meetings, including the most recent in Port Dickson.

“There were some verbal exchanges. We will look into it,” she added.

She said the committee viewed the allegations and complaints lodge by Rafizi seriously.“We also understand the risk of manipulation which has been highlighted by Rafizi.”

She said party polls were being conducted in a hybrid manner – through physical voting and online via the Adil application system, which has good security features.

JPP decided against the use of QR code to eliminate the risk of cheating, as it could be duplicated multiple times, she said.

“The JPP decided to use ballot ink, as well as a strict monitoring system that includes varying passwords,” she explained.

“It can also invalidate any results and redo voting for any branches or wings, if we find any weaknesses.”

Meanwhile, Rafizi’s challenger Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he would not meddle in such issues and would let the election committee handle it.

“It’s best that we put our trust in the committee,” he was quoted as saying by a news portal.

The PKR elections are being held to pick the party’s top leaders for the next three years until 2025, with much focus on the contest between Rafizi and Saifuddin.

They are vying to be the right-hand man to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who kept his presidency uncontested.

Eligible party members in Perlis, Penang, Melaka and Negri Sembilan voted yesterday while those in Selangor will cast their votes on May 21.

Party members in Perak, Sabah and Sarawak will vote on May 22, while those abroad can vote online on May 17.

The rest of the online voters will do so from May 18 to 20.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/05/17/rafizi-complains-about-phantoms