Indelible ink U-turn casts shadow over election

The Election Commission’s decision not to use indelible ink just does not sound right.  If they have nothing to hide, then there should be no hesitation in using such ink. It certainly doesn’t look good for the EC and the government, coming so close to polling day.  How are you going to spot multiple voters?

This is a piece I wrote yesterday.

PENANG, Mar 5 (IPS) – Malaysia’s Election Commission (EC) has dramatically scrapped a plan to use indelible ink to prevent multiple voting and stop phantom voters, provoking a storm of protests among opposition parties, which were expecting to make major gains at the polls on Saturday.

The sudden reversal of the plan to use indelible ink has put the spotlight on the Malaysia’s electoral process. It comes as political analysts expect a growing number of urban voters to switch to the opposition this time.

The U-turn was announced Tuesday, just four days before polling day on March 8. The plan to use ink to block phantom voters and multiple voting was mooted in June. In February this year, the EC reportedly ordered 47,000 bottles of indelible black ink from India at a cost of over 2 million ringgit (630,000 US dollars).  Full article