KUALA LUMPUR: DAP’s re-election for its central executive committee (CEC) will only benefit party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, said Gerakan.
Gerakan vice-president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau said even though DAP has grudgingly agreed to hold the re-election, Lim will now be able to extend his reign as secretary-general for another 'bonus' term.
Lim, who is also Penang Chief Minister, Bagan MP and Air Putih state assemblyman, assumed office as the fifth DAP secretary-general in 2004.
"His term as secretary-general is due to end, having served two terms in the post.
"But with the re-election, Lim can still contest for the post and extend his tenure for another term," he said in a statement.
Lau pointed out that if the 2013 DAP CEC elections were valid, Lim’s term would have ended last year, which would have required the party to conduct a re-election now anyway.
Lau added that DAP should just admit that the Registrar of Societies (RoS) had been right all along and not pretend to be a victim by saying that they are conducting the re-election under protest.
He was commenting on a statement by DAP that it has agreed to hold its CEC re-election under protest, without surrendering its right to take legal action, if needed.
The statement was made by DAP vice-president Teresa Kok after she handed the party's letter of reply to the RoS today.
In 2013, the RoS had ordered a re-election of DAP’s CEC after it found irregularities and manipulation of votes by the party in its initial election in December 2012.
After the re-election, some party members claimed that they were denied the right to attend the party congress as delegates.
In a statement earlier this month, RoS director-general Datuk Mohammad Razin Abdullah instructed DAP to hold a re-election of the party’s CEC, saying that it is necessary as the election of CEC members and key positions via the re-election on Sept 29, 2013, was deemed unlawful.