200,000 voters in Singapore crucial to Johor polls

 

On Jan 22, 2022, the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar consented to the dissolution of the Johor State Assembly after granting an audience to Johor Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad.

The dissolution comes after months of speculation, with Umno seen to be pushing for statewide polls after convincing wins in Sabah and Malacca.

On Feb 9, 2022, the Election Commission (EC) met and set several important dates for the Johor elections, where Feb 26, 2022, will be nomination day, while March 12, 2022, will be the polling date for all 56 state seats in Johor.

The elections in Johor will be historic. It will be the first time in our country’s history that 18-20 years olds will be able to vote. This comes after the constitutional amendment that was passed in 2019 under the Pakatan Harapan government.

At the same time, eligible voters who have yet to register before this have been automatically added to the electoral rolls. With Undi18 and automatic voter registration, there will be a total of 2.59 million eligible voters in Johor.

For context, between the 13th general election in 2013 and the 14th general election in 2018, there were an additional 1.7 million new voters nationwide. This time, in Johor alone, there is an increase of around 700,000 new voters from the 14th general election.

Despite this, many expect voter turnout to be low. This is especially so with the current Omicron wave and unless the wave abates by March 12, it would likely be a factor in the turnout.

Turnout might also be low since the economy is going through recovery, and voters living outside of Johor may not want to travel back just to vote.

Apart from that, current political issues may also be a factor in the turnout, as can be seen in the Melaka elections.

‘UndiJohor’ in Singapore

But for voters outside of Malaysia, the EC has announced that they will be eligible to apply to become postal voters. In order to do so, Johor voters must first register with the EC through their website by Feb 18, 2022.

If an application is accepted, the ballot will be sent to the voter via mail, and the person may then return the marked ballot to the EC. In other words, overseas voters may cast their votes in the state elections without the need to physically be back in Malaysia.

For those in Singapore, they have an additional option; a group of NGOs known as ‘UndiJohor’ will facilitate the delivery of the postal ballots. They will transport these ballots from Singapore to Malaysia, so that the voters need not post these ballots to the EC.

This initiative would assist the estimated 200,000 Johor voters residing in Singapore.

With lower turnout expected, the votes of these overseas voters will become crucial. These votes may decide the eventual winners of many seats in Johor.

Although the candidates have not been announced and many still do not know the candidates who will be contesting, overseas Johoreans should still register as postal voters before the deadline.

Granted, one may not know who to vote for at this point in time. One might not even decide yet whether to cast a vote or not, as one’s democratic right. There is time yet to ponder over these questions as polling is a month away.

Johoreans overseas should not miss out on the chance to participate in this historic election and to determine the future of their home state for the next five years. - Mkini

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SYAHREDZAN JOHAN is a civil liberties lawyer and political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.