KUCHING, Dec 11: The Election Commission (EC) has issued a total of 17,885 postal ballot papers to those entitled to vote by post for this 12th Sarawak Election.
EC secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak, in a statement today, said that of the total, 16,728 were Form 1A category for EC personnel and officers as well as the police, armed forces and members of the media.
There were 365 under Form 1B category for Malaysians living abroad and 679 under Form 1C category involving nine agencies in the security and health sectors as well as 113 out-of-country absentee voters.
“The postal vote papers were issued according to the provisions under Regulation 3 of the Elections (Postal Voting) Regulations 2003 for the state election.
“The issuance of postal ballot papers on Dec 8 to 10 by election personnel was carried out at all 82 state constituencies.
“The process of issuing postal ballot papers was conducted in the presence of candidate representatives from all contesting parties or individuals,” he added.
The EC reminded all postal voters to mark the ballot paper, complete and correctly fill in the Declaration of Identity form (Form 2) and immediately return them to the constituency returning officer before 5pm on polling day of Dec 18.
Voters are also reminded to always maintain the secrecy of their votes by not taking pictures of postal ballot papers and sharing them on social media sites.
The 12th Sarawak Election on Dec 18 will see a total of 349 candidates from 10 parties contesting in the 82 state seats, with 1,252,014 registered voters set to cast their votes. — DayakDaily
