By Nancy Nais
JULAU, Nov 10: PKR deputy presidential candidate Rafizi Ramli appeared frustrated by the party’s election in Julau Division today, where he repeatedly said more “machines” are needed to accommodate the expected turnout of some 3,000 voters.
Rafizi said he could not ascertain whether it was a deliberate move but pointed out that it was a weakness that must be answered by the Central Election Committee (JPP).
“We have asked the election committee to intervene so that they give us more machines (tablets). If you expect more than 4,000 in Julau, you cannot just be operating with only five to six machines.
“We have the same problem at Pensiangan in Sabah. That was why it (the election) had to be cancelled,” Rafizi told reporters at the Julau Sports Centre where the polls are held.
He said he was concerned because it happened to him at all the divisions where, he claimed, he had overwhelming support that might swing the final result.
In Julau, he said there were only seven tablets, and it takes three to four minutes for each person to obtain the QR Code to allow them to vote. Based on that calculation, he said only 140 members could vote within an hour, whereas outside, there are 3,000 waiting to be admitted to vote.
He added that the period for voting was nine hours, which meant the whole process must end at 4.37 pm.
“This has been the problem for the last four weeks. The voting in Pensiangan, Tawau and Keningau had to be cancelled because of this problem, and now they are doing it again,” he said, adding that such situations happened in all the big divisions that could mobilise thousands upon thousands of voters to support him.
He pointed out that at Pensiangan, for instance, there were 3,000 to 4,000 voters who came at 10 am, but only two tablets were made available for the voters.
Due to the issue of inadequate tablets, he said the poll results of Pensiangan and Keningau were nullified.
For the Julau case, he said he had alerted the JPP chairman for more tablets.
“At the rate things are going, I will be lucky if I have 1,000 at the end of voting time when there are about 3,000 outside already,” said Rafizi, who pointed out that Julau was particularly sensitive because the division is “exclusively” his supporters.
He said he was disappointed because there was “a long discussion so that the same thing would not happen, but it still happened”.
The final stage of the PKR polls is in Sarawak, which will be held over the weekend with 31 divisions casting their votes to decide who will the party’s deputy president, with current deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and current vice president Rafizi vying for the post.
All eyes are on Julau, whose membership ballooned from a few hundred to more than 13,000 in June this year. — DayakDaily
