KUALA LUMPUR (March 30) : The failure to implement Undi-18 and automatic voter registration may have long-lasting repercussions for the governance of the country, the Malaysian Bar said today.
In a statement today, the Bar strongly urged the Election Commission (EC) to take immediate and urgent measures to expedite the process, so that the voices of the rakyat – especially young voters – can be heard when the next general election takes place.
“The delay in implementing Undi-18 and automatic voter registration may mean the continued disenfranchisement of the youth vote,” said Bar president AG Kalidas.
“Given the very fine political balance in the country at the moment, the impact of the youth vote on the potential outcome of the next general election cannot be underestimated,” he said.
The statement was issued following the recent decision by the EC to delay the implementation of automatic voter registration and the lowering of voting age to after Sept 1, 2022.
EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh said the commission was taking a realistic approach to the current development and situation in the country amid the lockdown, to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“With respect, this delay is unacceptable, and the reason given is simply unconvincing,” said Kalidas.
“On Sept 18, 2020, the deputy chairman of the EC was reported to have told the Malay Mail that “there was a team working on the system and they were confident that it could be up and running by the end of June 2021.”
“At that time, Malaysia was already facing the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic. Being fully aware of this, the EC, together with all government agencies, should have redoubled efforts to ensure that the promised deadline of June 2021 would be met. The Movement Control Order could have added a few months delay to this deadline, but certainly not a delay of at least 14 months,” the Bar president stressed.
In July 2019, Parliament passed the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019, which reduced the voting age eligibility from 21 to 18 years by amending Article 119(1)(a) of the Federal Constitution. The act also amended Article 119(4) to remove the need to apply for registration as a voter.
Kalidas noted that an estimated 1.2 million new voters will be registered, once the changes come into effect.
