‘Thin line’ between bribe and poll pledges, EC chair admits
(MMO) – Ahead of the Port Dickson by-election this weekend, Election Commission (EC) chairman Azhar Harun has conceded to the difficulty in clearly distinguishing between a candidate’s promise and outright bribery.
Azhar said in the “Let’s Talk” show on Astro Awani last night that candidates must be very careful when they make promises to voters, and told the public to be watchful and repost incidents they construed to be election offences.
“Essentially there shouldn’t be any distinction,” Azhar told host Sharaad Kuttan, when asked about the difference between Port Dickson candidate Kan Chee Yuen giving out free pens to voters and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim promising development projects for the constituency.
“But giving pens with the view to fish for votes, is an offence,” he added.
Last week, independent candidate Kan had bought 1,000 pens to give out to voters, reflecting his ballot logo of a pen. He cancelled the programme after the EC notified him that such a move would constitute an election offence.
Azhar said that previous court cases showed that an election promise may not be an offence “if it was made to everyone for the good of the whole constituency and without the intention to fish for votes.”
