The Malaysian Insight

THE Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) has demanded to know how Election Commission (EC) officials in Terengganu allowed PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and Terengganu Umno chairman Ahmad Said to enter polling stations dressed in party attire.

Bersih chairman Thomas Fann said Hadi and Said should have been barred because their attire displayed their respective party logos, which was classed as campaigning.

“This is a clear-cut offence if they wear any attire with the party symbol in the voting station. The EC should have stopped them from going in,” he told The Malaysian Insight, in response to pictures widely spread on social media, showing the men in party attire at the ballot box.

Section 26(g) of the Election Offences Act 1954 states that no person shall wear, hold or carry any form or type of clothing, head covering, ornament, rosette, water bottle or umbrella on which the name of a candidate or the name, emblem or symbol of any political party is printed or imprinted.

The rule applies for anywhere within a radius of 50m from any polling station.

If found guilty of an offence under the act, a person may face up to 12 months in prison, a RM5,000 fine, or both upon conviction.

Hadi was spotted with his wife Seri Zainab Awang Ngah and son Muhammad Khalil, the Batu Buruk assemblyman, at SK Rusila polling station.

Ahmad, a candidate for Kemaman, was spotted dressed in a Barisan Nasional shirt complete with the coalitions scales symbol at SK Teluk Kalong, Kijal.

In Kuala Lumpur, Perikatan Nasional Bandar Tun Razak candidate Kamarudin Jaafar may have also fallen afoul of the law after he was spotted wearing a PN lapel pin while at a polling centre. – November 19, 2022.