KUALA LUMPUR: The opposition wants the Election Commission (EC) to be given the authority to ban political parties who fail to fulfil their manifesto from contesting in the next general election.
Tan Sri Annuar Musa (BN-Ketereh) said this move was necessary to ensure the rakyat, particularly young voters, were not being duped into supporting a certain party based on its election promises which eventually remained unfulfilled, citing Pakatan Harapan (PH) as an example.
The Umno secretary-general made this proposal to the Dewan Rakyat when opposition leader Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was debating the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019, that aims to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.
“We have to increase the accountability of the parties contesting in elections, because youth are easily influenced, and parties will exploit this opportunity by coming up with irresponsible manifesto in a bid to fish for votes, which are eventually not fulfilled.
“Do you agree that we should come up with a law so that manifestos are registered with the EC, and if they are not fulfilled, the party should be held accountable and not be allowed to contest in the next election,” he said, here, yesterday.
Ismail agreed with the suggestion, adding that the EC should be acting independently and not be dictated by the ruling government into making any decisions.
“For instance in the Cameron Highland by-election recently, although there were several election offences by the government, including the issuance of petrol money to constituents and using government assets, no action was taken,” he said.
The Bera MP also hit out at electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 for what he claimed as being biased in its actions, for unequal treatment towards Barisan Nasional (BN) and the current ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
“Bersih is not clean. Previously, they would demonstrate and protest wearing yellow accusing us of many things. But when offences were made by the government today, there’s no such protest or statements to condemn,” he said.
