Roland claims irregularities in Baram

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MIRI: The election result for Baram parliamentary constituency in the May 5 general election is expected to be one of the 30 to be disputed by Pakatan Rakyat soon.

PKR Baram deputy chairman Roland Engan, who lost in Baram, told a dinner gathering with supporters at Grand Palace Hotel on May 10 that Pakatan was gathering evidence to prove that there were election irregularities in Baram.

He opined that seats which were lost with a majority of less than one thousand votes had a higher chance of electoral fraud.

Roland claimed there were instances where Election Commission (EC) officers stopped balloting at 11.30am even though there were still voters queuing to cast their ballots in polling stations.

He said it made no sense to close polling stations early in constituencies as big as Baram as such a move would deprive many people of their right to vote.

“Many Penan voters were unaware that the early closing time (for casting their vote) was 11.30am because previously it used to be noon,” he claimed.

Roland also claimed there was an incident where tallying of votes in Marudi town started at 12.30pm instead of the standard 5pm for all polling centres.

“The results were made public even though polling was still going on in Marudi and other urban centres like Long Lama. This could influence voters who have yet to cast their votes,” he added.

Roland added that he was working closely with top party leaders in Kuala Lumpur on this matter.

In the polls, Baram saw a three-cornered fight between Roland, Anyie Ngau (BN) and Patrick Sibat (Independent). Anyie garnered 9,182 votes to Roland’s 8,988 and Patrick’s 363.