When can absentee voting be widely available?

 

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) would like to reiterate our call that the Election Commission (EC) should be willing and prepared to extend postal voting to other categories other than the seven categories set by the EC — the military, police, media personnel, election officials, Malaysian citizens abroad as well as students and civil servants who are abroad.

Bersih 2.0 believes that the EC has gathered enough time to implement this matter as proposals and studies to expand the postal voting category have been made since 2012 by the Parliamentary Select Committee on improving the electoral system, chaired by Maximus Ongkili.

If the EC is unable to provide postal voting facilities to all Malaysians, at least the EC should provide the postal voting option for Malaysians who are either not working or studying within their voting constituency. The EC should be held accountable and responsible by the public if it continues to give out reasons on insufficient time to implement such an option since even automatic voter registration can be successfully carried out within two years.

This appeal has been made by Bersih 2.0 and Bersih Sabah several times before and most recently by Bersih Sarawak. Bersih 2.0 also urged that postal and early voting categories to be open to voters residing in neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Southern Thailand, Brunei and Kalimantan.

If such initiatives to improve the voting system cannot be fulfilled, then when is the right time for the EC to expand this postal voting category to Malaysians so that it is easier for them to vote if elections are held within the next few years?

As the Covid-19 pandemic begins to take another toll, the EC should think of more proactive measures to ensure that the voting right of all Malaysians is guaranteed without risking their safety and health. For example, the EC can extend the voting period by more than a day as it is done in some countries such as New Zealand where the voting period is 12 days.

Bersih 2.0 would like to suggest that the EC immediately conduct a session to engage with stakeholders including agencies such as Pos Malaysia, the housing and local government ministry, political parties, civil society organisations and think tanks.

Bersih 2.0 is the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, a civil society organisation. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.