Malaysia's parliament on Thursday adopted electoral reforms including several demands made by leaders of a mass rally that alleged poll fraud. With general elections widely expected next year, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Kuala Lumpur in July calling for reforms of the electoral system.
Police broke up the rally with tear gas and water cannon and arrested 1,600 people. Stung by criticism at home and abroad over the government's response, Prime Minister Najib Razak called for a bipartisan panel in August to explore changes to a system widely viewed as biased in favour of his ruling party. The panel recommended the use of indelible ink, allowing absentee voting, cleaning up the electoral roll to remove deceased voters and other steps to reduce the risk of cheating.
Parliament adopted the recommendations Thursday. Panel member Hatta Ramli said it was now up to the Election Commission (EC) to implement the changes. "We expect the EC to take up all the recommendations... as agreed by the August house," Hatta, a lawmaker for the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, told AFP.