No Undi 18, automatic voter registration for Sarawak polls, says EC

The Election Commission (EC) today said the lowering of the minimum age for voting and automatic voter registration will not be implemented for the upcoming state election in Sarawak.

EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh said the commission’s earlier statement on the polls had said that only the 1.2 million voters currently registered would be eligible to vote on Dec 18.

“Paragraph 17 states that the election will only use the total registered 1.2 million voters as of Nov 2,” he said to MalaysiaNow when asked about the matter.

Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had said in the Dewan Rakyat last week that Undi 18, the lowering of the minimum voting age from 21 to 18, and automatic voter registration would be implemented before Dec 31.

This is in line with the order by the Kuching High Court on Sept 3.

The proposed amendments were approved in Parliament in July 2019.

Ghani also said that the gazette states that the king had appointed Dec 15 as the date on which the Undi 18 amendments would take effect.

The constitutional amendment was gazetted on Nov 25.

The Sarawak state legislative assembly was however dissolved on Nov 3, before the amendment.