Photo : Liew (3rd from right) checking out the tally of voters with the Chief Supervisor.
KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Christina Liew, who is defending the post of PKR Kota Kinabalu Branch Head, was shocked when voters complained to her that the list of candidates vying for the branch committee positions for the 2022-2025 term, was missing from the voting tablet provided by the party election committee (JPP).
As early as 6.30am, voters had started arriving for physical voting from 8am to 4pm at the voting centre housed at the Golden Hotel in Sembulan here on Sunday. Some of them had to travel by boat before continuing their journey by bus to reach the destination.
“When I arrived at the hotel, many voters reported to me that they could not find my name as a candidate for the post of branch head. In fact, the whole line-up of candidates for the branch committee, wanita committee and youth committee had disappeared from the tablet,” Liew, who is also Api-Api Assemblywoman, said.
When interviewed, angry voters told reporters that only the line-up of candidates for the party’s central leadership council (MPP) appeared on the tablet for them to vote. According to them, they voted for only three people for MPP because they spotted only three names. “When one lawyer queried why the list of candidates for the KK Branch Committee was not shown, one of the supervisors re-set the tablet and the list became visible but it was invisible again later when it was my turn to vote,” a voter lamented.
Affected voters also reported that they were told by the election supervisor concerned not to vote for Number One (which is Liew’s candidacy number) but to vote for Number Two (who is Liew’s sole challenger Steveelon Sait). At one stage, one election supervisor allegedly told voters “Ini saja yang boleh undi” (only this can be voted for) when they inquired why only the MPP list of candidates was available on the voting tablet.
It is understood that a report has been lodged with the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
A source close to Liew reckoned that about 700 voters turned up today for physical voting but the end result did not match the figure due to the technical glitch.
When the exercise ended at 4pm, the Chief Supervisor (or Ketua Pengawas) informed Liew that based on her calculation, only 456 voters had voted with a total of 1,368 votes for the MPP, Wanita and Angkatan Muda Keadilan (AMK) at central level, and for the KK Branch Committee, Wanita and AMK at branch level.
Asked by a reporter how she (Chief Supervisor) had arrived at the figure of 456 voters, she said : “Agak-agak (Approximately). This is because many of the voters did not vote for all six committees at central and branch levels. Some voted for only two committees while others voted for three committees at central or branch level.”
Of the total number of members who have voted (1,435), 821 participated in the e-voting exercise conducted from May 18 to 20. There were 154 doubt votes (undi ragu).
The JPP is expected to release the results for all 26 branches in Sabah in a few weeks’ time.
