Defective Ballots Invalid Reps Claims Mar Amanah Youth Polls

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Internal party elections at last week’s Amanah Youth Convention had been marred with irregularities, claims a source in the party’s youth wing.
They include defective ballots, representatives who only registered themselves after the deadline, and inaccuracies in candidates’ names on e-voting ballots, the source told Malaysiakini.
The source said that the names of candidates for the positions of speaker, deputy speaker, and two auditors were listed together with the list of candidates vying for the leadership committee, causing confusion among representatives during the voting process.
“This incident was very ‘fatal’ because it denied the candidates the right to be elected and the right of the representatives who nominated them,” the source told Malaysiakini today.
In addition, it was alleged that some divisions registered the names of their representatives after the registration deadline.
If proven true, the source said, votes by those representatives could be considered invalid and would affect the total votes received by all candidates in the election.
In Amanah’s election system, representatives can vote for candidates for the positions of speaker, deputy speaker, auditor, and 27 committee members. Subsequently, the 27 committee members will internally select among themselves who to man the top five positions.
In the Dec 16 election, senator Hasbie Muda retained the youth chief position for the 2023-2026 session after receiving the highest number of votes with 387, while Batu Tiga State assemblyperson Danial Al Rashid Haron Aminar Rashid was appointed as the deputy youth chief.
The three vice-youth chiefs are Faris Arriffin, Ammar Atan, and Hazmi Hassan, respectively.
Blackout and access key trading
Commenting further, the source claimed there were technical issues during the election, such as a six-minute blackout of the screen during the announcement of results and the election results not being announced in real-time.
“The tragedy of this suspension raises various doubts, negative reactions, and speculation about the efficiency and transparency of the national election committee,” the source said, adding that the voting process was delayed for an hour. 
“I am confident that during the unmonitored delay, there was a risk of buying and selling access keys (for access to the e-voting system) between representatives and certain parties. This cannot be taken lightly by the complaints committee.
“Perhaps third-party voting occurred because access keys were ‘hot items’ on the night of the election,” they further claimed.
‘Wait for secretary general’s decision’
Meanwhile, election committee chairperson Zulqarnain Lukman, when contacted, stated that they have not made any decisions regarding the complaints as the objection period is still ongoing until Dec 25.
“Yesterday, we had the complaints committee meeting. Tonight, we will have the working committee meeting to present the complaints to the national committee for any decisions.
“So far, almost half of the investigation has been carried out but there have been no decisions... wait for the decision to be announced by the secretary-general,” he told Malaysiakini.
Zulqarnain (above) said they received many objections regarding the youth wing election, in addition to 12 objections related to the Amanah Youth Women’s Wing (Warda) election.
When asked about the possibility of a re-election, Zulqarnain did not rule out the matter but declined to comment further.  - Mkini

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