Despite EC’s remarks, Rafizi will still bring fraud evidence to People’s Tribunal
By Ida Lim
PETALING JAYA, May 20 — PKR’s Rafizi Ramli said he would still bring proof of electoral fraud to the People’s Tribunal despite the Election Commission (EC) saying that the tribunal set up by polls watchdog Bersih lacks legal standing.
“We have always operated on the basis that it’s the wisdom of the public that finally will pressure BN (Barisan Nasional) into any action,” the PKR strategy director told reporters at the party’s headquarters here today.
“I think that is most important about Bersih’s People’s Tribunal because no matter what SPR accuses it of, supposedly it doesn’t have legal standing, it has much more legitimacy in the eyes of the public than the EC,” Rafizi (picture) said, referring to the EC by its initials in English and Malay.
“So we will proceed with presenting as many evidence as possible to the People’s Tribunal,” said Rafizi, who heads the party’s #siasatPRU13 team that is investigating and collecting evidence of fraud during the May 5 polls.
Last Tuesday, EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar had said that Rafizi’s plan to raise evidence of fraud before the “People’s Tribunal” would cause “trouble”.
“If you lost and want to protest... protest through the legal channel. There is no use influencing the people and hold demonstrations and illegal gatherings.
“When you want to bring it to the ‘People’s Tribunal’, one, you would only create trouble; two, it is not legal, it is wrong. It will create a lot of misunderstanding among the people,” Wan Ahmad had told The Malaysian Insider.
Last Monday, Rafizi had said his team of 67 volunteers, largely composed of lawyers and accountants, would bring up their “case” to the People’s Tribunal, which is intended to examine evidence of electoral fraud.
In Malaysia, complaints about the conduct of elections can be brought to courts in the form of election petitions, which can be made 21 days after the date where the polls results are gazetted.
The EC had reportedly said that the polls results would likely be gazetted by the end of this month.
