Speech (Part 2) by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the DAP Tanjong 3 Committee meeting at Penang DAP Hqrs on Thursday, September 22, 1994 at 8.30 pm.
All DAP State Committees and branches must be ready to object to ‘phantom voters’ when the draft electoral roll is put up for public display, probably early next month.
All DAP State Committees and branches must be ready to object to ‘phantom voters’ when the draft electoral roll is put up for public display for public objection, probably early next month.
This draft electoral roll will enumerate the new voters registered during the 21-day voters’ registration exercise conducted by the Election Commission in July as well as those who have applied to change address and electoral constituency.
The Election Commission has announced that it had received 514,454 application from new voters and 192,988 applica¬tions for change of address and electoral constituency – making a total of 707,442 applications.
We have reason to believe that a portion of these applications are ‘phantom voters’ who have registered as new voters or applied to change electoral constituency with the sole purpose of padding the electoral register to the advantage of certain Barisan Nasional candidates to save them from defeat.
I will not be surprised, if the display of the draft electoral register by the Election Commission this time will meet with the strongest objections in the history of voters’ registra¬tion exercise since Merdeka in 1957, and that the issue of ‘phantom voters’ may be pursued all the way to the courts.
During the 21-day voters’ registration exercise, UMNO set out with the objective, of registering 400,000 new UMNO voters. This campaign to register 400,000 new UMNO voters was headed by a special UMNO task force headed by the Defence Minister and UMNO National Vice President Datuk Najib Tun Razak.
How successful had been the UMNO campaign to register 400,000 new UMNO voters onto the electoral register last July?
As there are only 514,454 new voters who registered in July, even if UMNO succeeded in reaching only 80 per cent of its target of registering 400,000 new UMNO voters, this would mean that out of the 514,454 new voters, 320,000 would be new UMNO voters – which comprise a hefty 62 per cent.
This would change the electoral chances in many parliamentary and state constituencies in the next general elections.
However, I have received information that the UMNO voters’ registration campaign headed by Najib had not been very successful, and if this is true, then it raises the chances of general elections being held this year rather than next year.
DAP must never lose sight of the possiblity of general elections being held this year, and this is why the Penang DAP Tanjong 3 Marathon Thousand-People Dinner early next month will launch off another round of general elections offensive through¬out the country.