Elections in Malaysia - Election Offences

Election Offences

There are a few offences under election law. Most of these pertain to acts which induce a voter to cast his ballot for a candidate. It is also an offence to use these actions to induce voters not to cast ballots at all. These offences extend to using third parties as agents to commit them.

• It is an offence to provide food, drinks or refreshments with a view to induce voters to either vote for a particular candidate or not vote at all.
• It is illegal to provide monetary rewards for voting for a certain candidate.
• It is an offence to threaten a person to vote for a candidate or not to vote. In 2004 this was extended to include "spiritual threats". This was due to the Islamic Party of Malaysia(PAS) threatening citizens in less developed parts of the country with eternal damnation if they did not vote for the PAS and that a vote for them would be rewarded by God.
• It is an offence to obstruct passage to and from a voting centre. Setting up a location for any candidate within 50 yards (50 m) of the voting centre is an offence. Similarly, loitering in this zone is also an offence. Only voters are allowed in this zone on voting day.
• It is technically an offence to provide transportation to a voting centre. However, this is not normally enforced as all parties do this to some degree. It is a further offence to use a vehicle that is normally rented out (such as a taxi or hired bus) to provide such transportation. The only exception to this is that it is allowed to provide for the crossing of rivers. No passengers of any vehicle can be forced to alight within 50 yards (46 m) of a candidate's booth on voting day.
• Each candidate is not allowed to spend more than RM 200,000 (parliamentary) or RM 100,000 (state) for campaigning under Section 19 of the Elections Offences Act, 1954. It has been alleged, however, that the governing Barisan Nasional coalition spent around RM1.5 billion in the 2004 general election, far more than the RM94,300,000 permitted under the regulations.

In the 2011 Sarawak State Election, Barisan Nasional was proved to have committed almost all the offenses mentioned above, winning 55 seats out of 71. In Saribas, where the Barisan Nasional operation centre provided free mineral water which lured voters was won by Barisan Nasional by 1,672 votes. Monetary rewards also largely influenced the winnings of Barisan Nasional in this election. The innocent villagers of Sarawak are used to being threatened to vote for the ruling party or face serious consequences. Simanggang, where Barisan Nasional won by 2,447 votes, had a Barisan Nasional checking counter inside the compound of polling station SK Sri Aman Kampung Muhibbah and Barisan Nasional banners within the 50m radius.