EC announces additional requirements over election campaign materials

KUALA LUMPUR: The Election Commission (EC) today announced additional requirements relating to the use of campaign materials in the 14th general election (GE14).
EC chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said the additional requirements were to ensure that campaign activities involving the contesting parties were peaceful and smooth and not confusing the voters.
"The EC calls on every candidate and the political party contesting, to avoid any element that can induce sedition, hostility, and so on, in accordance with Section 4A of the Election Offences Act 1954," he said in a statement today.
Here are the additional requirements for the use of the GE14 campaign materials:
>> The installation of campaign materials must have the permit for the display purposes and the permit will be issued by the state election director, subject to the terms and conditions stated under Section 24B (4) of the Election Offences Act 1954;
>> Only pictures of two political party leaders, namely the president (or its equivalent) and deputy president (or its equivalent) (based on the use of logo/symbol of political party registered by the candidate during the Nomination Day) can be used on campaign materials;
>> Pictures of other officials of the contesting parties, other than the president (or its equivalent) and the deputy president (or its equivalent) are not permitted;
>> Pictures of both political party leaders can be either combined or placed separately on campaign materials;
>> Only a combination of the pictures of the party's president (or its equivalent), the deputy president (or its equivalent), the party liaison chairman (or its equivalent), the Mentri Besar / Chief Minister and candidates (based on the use of logo/symbol of political party registered by candidate during the Nomination Day) is permitted to be used on campaign materials;
>> Other party post than those mentioned above is not permitted;
>> Candidates contesting for political parties and want to adopt the party's logo/ symbol are required to ensure that the party's logo/symbol are registered with the EC; and
>> The logo/symbol of the political party for the candidate contesting and the logo/symbol of the component party registered as the coalition represented by the candidate are allowed to be displayed either jointly or separately at the constituency where the candidate is contesting.
Mohd Hashim said existing conditions as stipulated under the Election Offences Act 1954 and the Election (Election Conduct) Act 1981 were still applicable.
He also reminded all party leaders and supporters as well as candidates contesting, to comply with the laws, regulations and instructions issued by the EC, the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) or other relevant authorities.
All campaign activities for the GE14, to commence from April 28 to May 8, were hoped to run smoothly and would not interfere with public order and national security, he said.
For the purpose of monitoring and enforcing the campaign rules, Mohd Hashim said the EC has established 445 units of the Election Campaign Enforcement Team (PP-KPR) nationwide.
Among the functions of the PP-KPR teams were to carry out patrolling on the campaign activities, to remove campaign materials that violate the campaign ethics as stipulated under the Election Offences Act 1954, to seek the RMP's assistance to stop the candidates/agents or political parties who did not obtain the permit from the district police chief and to control and coordinate the implementation of campaign activities, he said. — Bernama