New Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says the opposition can "migrate elsewhere" if it is not satisfied with the country's electoral system that saw BN winning 133 parliamentary seats on May 5, despite Pakatan Rakyat bagging 51.78 percent of the popular votes to get 89 seats.

NONEIn an editorial piece in Utusan Malaysia today, Zahid (left) lashed at what he described as illegal gatherings organised by the opposition by way of the 'Black 505' events nationwide following Pakatan's losses in 13th general election.

Leaders of the opposition, especially from the PKR and DAP, he wrote, had confused the young Chinese and their blind supporters by asking them to wear black to protest against the GE13 result that showed the opposition parties winning through the popular vote.

The illegal gatherings, Zahid said, were to hide the fact of Pakatan's failure to win over Putrajaya, but the coalition did not dispute the results in Penang, Selangor and Kelantan.

"If it is true that the opposition obtained the majority vote, the measure it used has been manipulated... The method interpreted by the opposition is only adopted where countries directly elect their heads of state or political parties through elections."


Malaysia's system not based on 'popular vote'

He said Malaysia does not adopt a system that recognises the popular vote as the country practised the Westminster system of 'first past the post', as did the other Commonwealth countries.

Through this system, Zahid said, voters would elect their representative from among the political parties contesting and the victor would be the one with the simple majority.

azlan"If this group (the opposition) wants to use the other system of single transferable vote as used in the republics, they should migrate to those countries to practise this kind of political belief," Zahid said in his Utusan posting.

Those who were loyal to Malaysia would accept the political system the country practised, based on the system of government it has, as enshrined in the federal constitution.

The various illegal gatherings held by way of road shows, he said, said were just an escapism for the opposition to hide the fact of its failure to control Putrajaya.

"The opposition acted over-confident in the support of the voters, and these supporters were manipulated by the various issues and false promises made in the opposition manifesto, which they themselves know cannot be implemented," Zahid said in his editorial piece.


Many critics of the electoral system have pointed out the gross distortion and the gerrymandering over the years which saw many seats, especially those won by the opposition, having large number of voters.-malaysiakini  

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