EC chief assures phantom voters won't haunt Sabah polls

SABAH POLLS | The incidence of phantom voters casting ballots will not occur during tomorrow's Sabah state polls, Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Ghani Salleh guaranteed.

He gave this assurance saying the EC would be using voter registration data provided by the National Registration Department (NRD).

"We are using the voter registration list from the NRD which means they are all Malaysians.

"So (the issue) of phantom voters does not exist," he told the media at the vote tallying centre for Moyog, Penampang on the eve of polling day today.

"It will not happen. No (phantom voters), I guarantee," he said.

On Sept 20, state police commissioner Hazani Ghazali said the cops had received information that large numbers of foreigners might enter Sabah to create trouble during polling day tomorrow.

Following that, armed forces chief Affendi Buang said they were prepared for any possibility that illegal immigrants might be sneaked into Sabah to disrupt polling.

Meanwhile, the NRD has announced that it will set up operation centres in six areas to assist the EC to screen the dubious identification documents.

The issue surrounding phantom voters in Sabah can be traced back to the 1990s where a spike in the number of voters was discovered in the electoral rolls.

Political parties and civil society organisations in Sabah have repeatedly called for the government to clean up the electoral rolls of dubious voters. 

Malaysiakini is currently providing stories on the Sabah polls for free. Continue to support Malaysiakini and independent journalism by subscribing for as little as RM20 per month.

Follow Malaysiakini's coverage of the Sabah state election here.