SHAH ALAM: PKR president-elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said that the e-voting mechanism used in the recently concluded party polls should be reviewed as it had caused various problems to some voters, especially those non-tech savvy ones.
He personally described the previously used manual (ballot paper) system as better.
“I think we have to relook at it. Personally, I am not too keen, but the party is a democratic party and there are some members in rural areas who are not computer savvy. So it’s a huge problem in the process.
“It’s good (to revert to ballot paper), but we talk about one million voters and we have to have a very elaborate mechanism. I would propose later once I take over for a special committee to review the entire electoral process,” he told reporters after the opening of the 13th PKR National Congress here today.
The PKR polls made history as the first to be implemented using the e-voting system and the concept of “one member of one vote”, involving 80,000 of its members nationwide.
The election involved 76 posts at the national level and 10,212 other posts at the divisional level.
However, the system was deluged with various problems, including line issue, poor internet access, hacking claims and the discovery of a jammer device allegedly utilised to sabotage the election process, causing dissatisfaction among party members and candidates.
The nine-week long polls was also seen as unproductive as it prevented the candidates involved from focusing on their essential functions. — Bernama
