By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, May 17: Sarawak has gained 675,077 new voters in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021, following the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration.
Undi18 refers to the implementation of a new law that lowers the country’s voting age from 21 to 18 years of age.
Meanwhile, automatic voter registration allows Malaysian citizens aged 18 and up to be automatically added to the electoral roll if they are not already registered, effectively replacing the previous system that required Malaysians to apply to register as voters.
According to Sarawak Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian’s Facebook post last night, Sarawak saw an increase of 675,077 new voters in Q4 2021, resulting in 1,927,750 voters on December 31, 2021, up from 1,255,113 voters before Q4 2021.
Dr Sim stated that the Election Commission (EC) briefed the Sarawak assemblymen at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Complex on these statistics.
Additionally, he disclosed that 310,391 or 45.2 per cent of the newly-registered voters are between the ages of 21 and 29, followed by 18 to 20 years (143,609 or 20.9 per cent) and 30 to 39 years (132,022 or 19.23 per cent).
“There are 39 State seats with fewer than 6,000 new voters, 25 with an increase of 6,000 to 12,000 new voters, 15 with 12,000 to 18,000 new voters, one with 18,000 to 24,000 new voters, and two with more than 24,000 new voters.
“In the meantime, Senadin has the highest voter increase from 34,274 to 67,904, followed by Tupong (from 26,120 to 51,335), Lambir (19,911 to 38,277), Dudong (35,061 to 52,062), Kota Sentosa (28,355 to 45,422), Batu Kawa (20,719 to 37,765), Pantai Damai (20,578 to 37,527), Batu Lintang (29,735 to 46,150), Pujut (27,593 to 43,774), and Samariang (21,438 to 37,609),” he added.
Additionally, Dr Sim noted that the Sarawak government will continue to seek one-third of the country’s total parliamentary seats, as stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63).
“This is in line with the Federal Constitution amendment incorporating MA63, which was passed in Parliament in December 2021,” he concluded. — DayakDaily
