DAP's CEC re-election sees retention of 90% of previous lineup

SHAH ALAM: Party veteran Lim Kit Siang emerged tops at the re-election of DAP central executive committee (CEC) today.
Kit Siang garnered 1,199 votes, defeating runner-up Gobind Singh Deo by one vote.
Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng emerged third with 1,180 votes, followed by Anthony Loke with 1,175 votes.
The re-election retained 90% of the previous lineup of the party's CEC, which was elected during another round of re-election held in 2013.
The party polls also saw the entry of two new faces in the central leadership, former Selangor exco Ronnie Liu and and Batu Gajah MP V. Sivakumar.
The duo replaced Karpal Singh, who was killed in an accident in 2014, and Skudai assemblyman Boo Cheng Hau.
Surprisingly, Karpal still received a total of 43 votes in the re-election.
The re-election result was announced by returning officer John Lau from Grant Thornton, an audit firm appointed to supervise the polls.
A total of 1,346 votes were counted in the election held at Ideal Convention Centre, where 1,356 delegates nationwide were eligible to cast their votes.
There were 36 spoilt votes.
DAP's election system differs from other political parties in Malaysia as it does not feature a direct contest for top posts in the party.
The 20 top vote getting candidates are elected into the CEC, with up to 10 additional members who can be co-opted.
The 20 candidates will then allocate among themselves the various posts.
The re-election was held after the party on July 17 received official notification from the Registrar of Societies (RoS) regarding the department's order for the party to hold a fresh re-election of its CEC.
The order was issued as RoS had neither accepted nor recognised the election held by DAP on Dec 15, 2012, and the re-election on Sept 29, 2013.
Immediately after the results were announced, a CEC meeting was held to appoint winners to top positions in the party, which saw Guan Eng retaining his secretary-general post.
Kok Wai was appointed the party's national chairman, with Gobind as his deputy.