Amid concerns of a flawed electoral roll, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar appears to have roped in prominent pro-electoral reform leader Ambiga Sreenevasan's assistance.

Ambiga made an appearance at Nurul Izzah's campaign trail last night, where Nurulo Izzah addressed some 400 people who had crammed into a narrow alley in Bangsar to listen to her.


NONEThey two are also scheduled to help promote Bersih's Pemantau volunteer election monitoring campaign at Bangsar's Lucky Garden morning market today.

However, Ambiga, who also spoke last night, maintained that she is non-partisan and she would be willing to speak on BN's platform as well - except for one problem: "This is, I only get invited by Pakatan Rakyat," she said, drawing laughter from the audience.

"If BN or Umno invites me, I will definitely go to speak, but I will say the same thing as I'm saying here," Ambiga added, before moving on to speak on her concerns about deaths in custody, corruption, and electoral fraud.


'Please come out and vote' 

The Bersih co-chairperson also reiterated her plea to the people to come out and vote in large numbers in order to minimise the impact of any electoral fraud.

"Every single vote is going to count in this general election," Ambiga said, without referring to any specific constituency.

"That is what Bersih has been saying, that is what we have been fighting for. We have been fighting for a free and fair election; and this is not going to be a free and fair election. Sorry.

"But we don't give up. Can we give up? No. We must soldier on and we must fight the fraud," she told the audience.

Speaking to Malaysiakini after the event, Ambiga said this was her second appearance with the PKR vice-president, but she could not recall the first time, except that it was earlier this year.

Regardless of her non-partisan message, Ambiga appeared to be as popular with the audience as the incumbent MP, and many rushed to greet her as she arrived and when she left, just as they did with Nurul Izzah.


NONENurul Izzah has expressed concerns about the electoral roll for her constituency on numerous occasions before, ahead of one of Kuala Lumpur's most closely watched battles in which she will take on caretaker Federal Territories Minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin.

Her concerns include a massive increase in the number of voters in Lembah Pantai, from just more than 58,000 voters in 2008 to 71,000 voters in the third quarter of 2012.

Of these, over 4,000 on the list are said to be dubious and Nurul Izzah's attempt to challenge this in court was unsuccessful, since the courts have no power at all to question the electoral roll.

Nurul Izzah reiterated her concerns and recounted the court case in her speech last night, and then urged the audience to "not only vote, but become a polling agent or counting agent and do what we can" in the May 5 election.-malaysiakini


 





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