PKF Accountants and Business Advisers appointed as the auditors to act as Scrutineers at the DAP CEC Re-elections
As the Returning Officer for the DAP Special Congress 2013 to be held at the One World Hotel on Sunday, 29th of September, 2013, I am pleased to announce that PKF Accountants and Business Advisers[1] have been appointed as the auditors to act as Scrutineers at the Central Executive Committee (CEC) Re-elections which will take place during the Special Congress.
PKF comprises of a network of 300 member firms and correspondents in 440 locations in 125 countries providing accounting and business advisory services. PKF member firms have over 23,000 partners and staff generating an estimated annual turnover of $2.6 billion. The network is a member of the Forum of Firms – an organization dedicated to consistent and high quality standards of financial reporting and auditing practices worldwide.[2]
PKF has already reviewed and scrutinized the despatch of notices that were sent out to the delegates who are eligible to attend the CEC Re-elections.
PKF has already started and will continue to engage with the Returning Officer and his team on the procedures for ballot preparation, issuance, casting and counting. PKF will review the formulas used in the application of software to be used in the computation and tabulation of the votes. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for each stage of the CEC Re-elections process will be given to PKF as reference material.
On the day of the CEC Re-elections, PKF will scrutinize the registration of delegates, the distribution of ballot papers, the casting of votes and the counting of votes. PKF will also check the final results of the CEC Re-elections before they are announced by the Returning Officer. PKF will provide a minimum of 5 personnel in attendance on the day of the CEC Re-elections to carry out their duties as Scrutineers.
In additional to the involvement of PKF as Scrutineers, the following procedures will be adopted in order to ensure the accuracy of the final results:
(i) Testing of the spreadsheets that will be used for the CEC Re-elections
(ii) The use of both manual as well as computer tabulation processes
A total of 2576 delegates are eligible to attend and vote during the CEC Re-elections. This is the same list of delegates that was used in the December 2012 CEC Elections in Penang.
A total of 68 names will be in the list of candidates for the CEC Re-elections. This is the same list of candidates that was used in the December 2012 CEC Elections in Penang. In this list of candidates, it will be noted that 5 individuals have withdrawn their candidacy. These five individuals – Choong Siew Onn, Er Teck Hwa, Jaya Balan A/L Valliappan, Teo Kok Seong and Yong Wui Wui (Violet) – were also announced as having withdrawn as candidates on the day of the CEC Elections on the 15th of December in Penang. One candidate – John A/L Fernandez – is also listed as having resigned from the party.
I have taken note of other candidates who have recently announced their withdrawal as candidates. They and other candidates are free to make these announcements through whatever channels they feel are suitable. However, their names will still appear on the list of candidates in the CEC Re-Elections on the 29th of September, 2013.
