Election Chairman should be Independent and answerable to Parliament.

Two articles reported by Malaysiakini should be of interest to the Malaysian Public
.First it was the EC chairman statement when he dropped the bombshell that it was the cabinet decision to scrap the use of the indelible ink in the march 8th General election.
The other article reported by a senior UMNO veteran Shahrir, came after Mahathir's decision to resign from the party.According to him the exodus of resignation from the party could result in Abdullah calling for a fresh snap election.
The first statement by the EC chairman confirms what Bersih had all along asserted that the election commission was not independent and that it was acting under the behest of the executive.It was an honest admission that the Election Commission was not independent and that for that matter it had always acted in the interest of the ruling party.
This admission has placed the integrity of the whole electoral process into question.Was the decision to abolish the use of the indelible ink four days before the election an act to allow phantom voters to cast their votes?The use of the indelible ink was to disallow that possibility and the last minute abolishment of that use under some dubious ,unproven security reason paved the way for phantom voters to emerge.
Then , did the Election commission played a vital role in the use and leverage of the postal votes?The manner in which the procedure for the postal votes were carried out left many unanswered questions. Every postal voter had to insert their identification number on the postal vote and such mandatory procedure violated the privacy and secrecy of the voters preference.At the expense and sacrifice of their careers many meekly complied with the superiors influence.
The second article by Shahrir seems to suggest the possibilty of a snap election.If this does come to fruition then where does this place the role of the Election Commission?Can the present Election Commission chairman be expected to assume the same role as before where it was obviously by its own admission subservient to the ruling party?In order for a fair and transparent election to take place, Bersih and all contesting parties should insist the appointment of an Election Chairman that is impartial and answerable only to parliament..Only with such a change can the electorate be assured of a free, fair and transparent election.