New Rules By EC Effectively Prohibits PH From Using Mahathir's Pictures For Campaigning
DAP leader Lim Guan Eng has called the new guidelines a "sabotage".
By Justin Tan — 25 Apr 2018, 02:50 PM
The Election Commission has announced additional requirements regarding the use of campaign materials in the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14) yesterday, 24 April
According to Bernama, EC chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah said the additional requirements were to ensure that campaigning involving contesting parties do not confuse the voters.
Here are some of the important additional requirements for the use of the GE14 campaign materials:
• Only pictures of two political party leaders, namely the president (or its equivalent) and deputy president (or its equivalent) (based on the use of logo/symbol of the political party registered by the candidate during the Nomination Day) can be used on campaign materials.
• Pictures of other officials of the contesting parties, other than the president and the deputy president are not permitted.
• Pictures of both political party leaders can be either combined or placed separately on campaign materials.
• Only a combination of the pictures of the party's president, the deputy president, the party liaison chairman (or its equivalent), the Mentri Besar / Chief Minister and candidates (based on the use of logo/symbol of political party registered by candidate during the Nomination Day) is permitted to be used on campaign materials.
• Other party post than those mentioned above is not permitted.
• Candidates contesting for political parties and want to adopt the party's logo/ symbol are required to ensure that the party's logo/symbol are registered with the EC.
• The logo/symbol of the political party for the candidate contesting and the logo/symbol of the component party registered as the coalition represented by the candidate are allowed to be displayed either jointly or separately at the constituency where the candidate is contesting.
Mohd Hashim said EC had set up 445 enforcement teams nationwide to ensure candidates and parties adhere to the additional comply to the additional rules and existing laws stipulated under the Election Offences Act 1954
He said, "The EC calls on every candidate and the political party contesting to avoid any element that can induce sedition and hostility in accordance with Section 4A of the Election Offences Act 1954."
Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has slammed EC's new ruling and claimed that it was clearly intended to prevent pictures of Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad from appearing on campaining posters
As reported by Free Malaysia Today, DAP has accused the Election Commission (EC) of trying to sabotage the opposition’s election campaign, by introducing a new guideline which only allows specific party leaders to appear on campaign materials.
DAP's Kepong candidate Lim Lip Eng told Malaysiakini that most campaign materials had already been printed as it is only three days to nomination day and another two weeks to 9 May.
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said "The election is a democratic event. The people are free to vote and to be voted for. So they must be given the freedom to choose who they want to put on posters.
"It is not for the EC to decide for the people."