Tg Piai by-election: 18-year-olds can contest but can’t vote

Tanjung Piai will mark the ninth by-election since GE14, but it will be the first time that 18-year-olds will be able to be fielded as candidates.

This comes after both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara passed the constitutional amendment to lower the age for contesting in elections in July.

Checks with the Attorney General’s Chambers website show that the amendment was gazetted on Sept 10.

However, according to Election Commission (EC) chairperson Azhar Azizan Harun (above), they will not be able to vote despite constitutional amendments to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, and for automatic voter registration.

“They can’t vote because (the amendments) have not been enforced [...]

“It will be enforced once it has been decided and gazetted in the future,” he said, when asked during a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Back in July, Azhar stated that the EC would not rush the implementation of these amendments and estimated it would take 18 months to prepare a new system for automatic voter registration, compile data from multiple federal agencies, synchronise data into the existing electoral roll, plus clean up the roll.

For the upcoming Nov 16 by-election, the EC will be using the electoral roll from the second quarter of the year, which was updated and gazetted on Sept 23.

Can contest, but...

Elaborating, he explained that the acceptance of 18-year-olds as election candidates, as with all candidates, remained subject to the decision of the Returning Officer (RO).

“The decision to accept 18-year-old candidates or otherwise is under the purview of the RO on nomination day,” he said.

The EC chief added that the EC was in the process of “engaging” with all political parties about the recent constitutional amendments, but was mum on what exactly needed to be discussed.

“According to the gazette and to the bill that was passed, they are able to be candidates. But they can’t vote.

“[...] We have to engage with the political parties first. We are arranging that very soon [...] we will be discussing the gazette and the provision of the law,” Azhar said, stressing that discussions were being held with both government and opposition parties.

- Mkini