No plans to make voting mandatory for now, says Azalina

 

The idea for mandatory voting gained traction following poor turnout in the August elections in six states.

PETALING JAYA: The government has no plans to make voting mandatory for now, law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said told the Dewan Rakyat.

She said the decision was based on the principle that as a democracy, Malaysians were free to decide whether they wanted to vote.

“However there will be greater emphasis on civic consciousness and education to encourage Malaysians to fulfil their responsibility to vote,” she said in a written reply.

Azalina was responding to Sany Hamzan (PH-Hulu Langat) who wanted to know if Putrajaya had any plans to make it compulsory for registered voters to cast their ballots.

The idea for mandatory voting gained traction following poor turnout in the August elections in six states. The voter turnout was lower than at the general election held last November.

In July last year, then law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said it would be difficult to make voting compulsory owing to the “peculiar challenges” which rural voters faced, such as the lack of infrastructure.

He also said while the intention to implement compulsory voting to address low voter turnout was justified, it could have a detrimental effect on the practice of democracy in the country.

In March last year, former Election Commission chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman suggested compulsory voting in view of the low voter turnout in the Johor state elections. - FMT