“If we open the electoral roll to be challenged, then when can we hold elections?” he retorted, when asked at a press conference today.He was responding to Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan’s challenge to open the electoral roll to the court’s scrutiny if the EC “has nothing to hide”.
Section 9A of the Election Act bars the court from scrutinising the electoral roll once it has been gazetted.
It was enacted after one such successful legal challenge in the landmark 1999 Likas election petition in Sabah that saw the election results nullified over a problematic roll.
Courts have since used Section 9A to rule against any legal challenges to the electoral roll.
Electoral rolls already clean
Wan Omar lamented that this provision had resulted in "assumptions" that EC is attempting to hide something from public knowledge, and he said these critics did not take the federal constitution into consideration.
He refers to a provision in the constitution that an election must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of parliament, state assembly, or a casual vacancy like the one in Kuala Besut.
“The court decide (on the challenge) but then the constitution says the election must be held within 60 days,” he said.
Therefore, the constitution needs to be amended before Section 9A is repealed.
He added that the electoral roll has already gone through a legal process of display, objection, hearing and gazette, which takes two months.
He claims that Malaysia’s electoral roll is already very clean and the EC has taken great lenghts to ensure this.
As an example, he said about 50 voters have died between the last general election and the late Kuala Besut assemblyperson Dr A Rahman Mokthar’s death on June 26. These have already been removed from the electoral roll.
“That is what the EC has been doing,” he said.

"There is no open tender and no transparency in the planning, the prime minister has full power to decide which contract goes to which Umno division leader, (and) this has to be stopped," Azmin (left) had said.
Realising his mistake, Bung lashed out at Azmin: "In PKR it's the same, they also ask (for contracts). If they do not ask, they are cowards."
He felt that the housing developer should not have been let off so lightly with only a RM30,000 fine, three years’ jail in default, for their destruction of Bukit Relau.
Muhyiddin replied that he is unfamiliar with local issues and that the Ramadan month is not suited for speaking ill of anyone, then quickly turned his attention towards promoting the BN candidate, Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abdul Rahman (right).
The minister claimed that people would "queue up" to buy the ink from the supplier to mark themselves prior to voting in order to disrupt the electoral process.
He said that in the Klang Valley, only 15 percent of retail shops are operated by Bumiputera, while the rest are operated by the Chinese.
"It was tabled at the PNHB's annual general meeting, we approved it," said Muhammad Imran Abdullah (right), chairman of the Puncak Niaga Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group.
Roslan Saidin (BN-Pinang Tunggal, right) specifically alleged that three Chinese doctors in Seberang Jaya and Kepala Batas had refused to treat Malay patients.
He said this when allowed to interject during the debate by RSN Rayer (DAP-Seri Delima, left) on the motion of thanks on the governor's speech.
Roslan, in turn, pleaded with speaker Law Choo Kiang (left) to advise Rayer "not to continue clucking like a chicken".
Jahara (right) added that the BN representatives were willing to cooperate with the state government when helping the rakyat, refuting Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s claim that they had refused to help his administration.
State party chief Dr Teng Hock Nan said it is likely that a representative would be sent to the sittings, which begin today and continue up to Friday.
Yesterday, the Penang government had
Penang Gerakan is currently holding branch and division level polls.