It's an offence to dish out cash during elections, say experts

SHAH ALAM - Any candidate or their agent who give out cash to garner voters is committing offence under the Election Offences Act 1954 (Act 5), experts say.

Lawyer Amin Othman said election offences under the Section 10 of Act 5 states it is an offence for any candidate or their agents to give out cash not only during the election as the law extends it to even before or after an election.

He added that the action is accompanied with the element of vote buying which means the candidate or their agents had dished out money with the objective of gaining votes.

He added the definition of "agents" during elections include official agents of the candidate, party members or anyone who campaigns for votes for the candidate with the knowledge of the candidate.

"If the candidate or their agents had given out cash before, during or after an election, any voter in that constituency or the losing candidate can file an election petition to challenge the result of the election on the ground that such election was tainted by act(s) of bribery under Section 32 (a) or (c) in Act 5," Amin said.

Election law expert, Dr G Manimaran said it is an offence under Election Offences Act 1954 (Act 5) to give money during, before and after the election to garner votes.

"Part 3 of the Election Offences Act 1954 clearly states that before, during, and after election, anyone who gives aid be it in the form of money or food to buy votes is an offence and it falls as corruption," he said.

He also said that anyone who is not satisfied by the election results and they have enough evidence that bribery may take place during the election can file a petition 21 days after the election results are announced.

"This has happened before after the 14th general election where the court annulled Barisan Nasional's (BN) victory in the Cameron Highland constituency and a by-election was held in 2019," he said.

"Let the court decide whether the money given out is for vote buying," he said.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has so far criticsed those who justified cash handouts as donations during an election, saying that it was just another form of corruption.

“Donation is fine, but such handouts to win votes during an election is corruption,” he said during a Chinese New Year open house hosted by Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow.

His comments came after a recent statement made by Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang who said that Pas party leaders seen in the video clips handing out cash were merely doing charity work.

Hadi said this in response to petitions filed by Terengganu Umno to nullify results of the 15th general election (GE15) in three constituencies in the state.