Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said he will bring up the proposal by Bersih for youths to be registered manually until the automatic voter registration (AVR) system is set up.
“I have not agreed to it yet. I will discuss with cabinet,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
The minister was speaking at the signing event of national under-18 striker Luqman Hakim Shamsuddin to Belgium club K V Kortrijk, next year.
Bersih proposed yesterday that youths aged 18 to 21 are be allowed to register by filling up forms through the Election Commission's (EC) website or its offices, post offices, or with assistant registration officers.
The electoral watchdog said this was until the AVR is implemented as young voters could then vote in any by-election or even the 2021 Sarawak elections.
According to the EC, this could take as long as two years to achieve.
Yesterday, EC chief Azhar Harun said he was agreeable to this as soon as policy-makers implement the constitutional amendments of lowering the age of voting to 18 and a “date of enforcement is decided on".
“However, (policy-makers) can decide to enforce the 18-year-old registration first, which is fine by me," he said.
Meanwhile, Syed Saddiq today expressed his confidence that the EC would be able to have the AVR in place in time for GE15.
On July 16, the Dewan Rakyat passed a bill to amend the Federal Constitution to lower the minimum voting age, and the age to contest in elections, to 18.
The bill also allowed for AVR.
The bill was subsequently passed in the Senate and received royal assent on Sept 4. It was gazetted on Sept 10.
The EC, in a statement on Sept 3, said that it might take between 18 and 24 months to implement the amendments, either together or separately. - Mkini
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