Covid-19 no excuse to delay automatic voter registration, court told

 

Lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar says the government and the EC must carry out the will of Parliament to allow those aged 18 and above to vote, without making a political show.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Covid-19 pandemic cannot be used as an excuse to delay the registration of citizens who turn 18 as voters, a lawyer told the High Court.

Gurdial Singh Nijar said the automatic voter registration (AVR) exercise could be done by the Election Commission (EC) and the National Registration Department with the aid of technology.

“Giving Covid-19 as an excuse is unacceptable. The AVR should have been completed last month as the government made the announcement on Oct 10, 2019,” the lawyer said in his submission following a judicial review application by the Undi18 movement.

He said that on Nov 2 last year, then law minister Takiyuddin Hassan and later the EC deputy chairman Azmi Shahrom announced the AVR system was on track.

The Federal Constitution was amended with a unanimous vote in July 2019 to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 and to allow for AVR.

Gurdial said the government and the EC must act and carry out the will of Parliament.

“Promises must be fulfilled without making a political show,” he said, adding that there was uncertainty as three governments have come into place since May 2018.

Ambiga Sreenevasan, who is appearing with Gurdial, submitted that the current status was that citizens who turned 18 could stand as candidates should a general election be held but could not vote.

“This is completely irrational as a candidate cannot even vote for himself,” she added.

Ambiga said the government and the EC made a sudden U-turn after the first movement control order on June 7 last year and announced the AVR would be implemented in September next year.

She said the respondents should allow 1.2 million youths who turned 18 to register manually, like going to post offices to be included as voters, and exercise their democratic rights.

The Undi18 group is seeking to challenge the government’s decision to delay the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18.

On April 2, the youths filed their legal action seeking several court orders arising from the respondents’ delay in the implementation of Undi18, and to allow for AVR.

They named the Prime Minister, the government and the EC as respondents.

They want a declaration that those aged 18 to 20 have a legitimate expectation that they will have the right to vote on or before July 2021.

Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan submitted that Parliament had the intention that lowering the voting age and AVR should be done together when the constitutional amendment was passed.

He said the respondents had difficulty implementing the will of the legislature due to Covid-19 and movement control order since last year.

“It cannot be done remotely as the EC needs to touch base with the new voters for verification purposes,” he added.

Another senior federal counsel, Azizan Md Arshad, submitted that the laws and regulations had to be amended to give effect to both intentions of Parliament.

He said currently those between 18 and 20 could not manually register as the law only allowed those who turned 21 and above to do so.

Judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid will deliver his ruling on Oct 21. - FMT