PORT DICKSON: The Election Commission (EC) has to forge a closer rapport with the media to ensure that all important information is disseminated to the people as soon as possible, it was stated here today.
Datuk Seri Azman Ujang (pix), chairman of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), said the people can get worried when information is not forthcoming from the EC, and pointed out that this happened for a period on the night of the 14th General Election (GE14) on May 9 last year.
He said the EC should have kept announcing the number of electoral seats won by all the contesting political parties and not choose to remain silent until early the next day.
“The media plays an important role in disseminating information to the people. A delay in announcing the results of GE14 on that (polling) day had raised various perceptions about the EC and also put the country at risk,” he said.
Azman was presenting a paper at a workshop on Civic Awareness and Voter Education organised by the Voter Education Cluster of the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC). Also present were ERC chief executive Amerul Muner Mohamad and Voter Education Cluster head Datuk Kamarudin Md Nor.
The two-day workshop, which began yesterday, is aimed at getting inputs from various quarters on electoral reform, particularly in relation to voter education.
The inputs will be documented and presented to the ERC. — Bernama
