KUCHING, Nov 6: Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) opined that Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) call for the State Election to be held by the end of the year would deprive youths aged 18 to 21 from voting.
Its president Lina Soo said hastening the election to be held before the year is out is unfair to the group and voters.
“GPS is deliberately depriving all Sarawakians aged 18 to 21 oftheir right to choose their government when GPS could have waited just a few more days to allow youths to exercise their voting right from Jan 1, 2022.
“This speaks volumes of their hostility to the implementation of Undi18,” she said in a statement today.
She further criticised the Sarawak government for claiming that having a high vaccination rate means safety.
She alleged that Sarawak has the highest Covid-19 infection rate and deaths in relation to vaccination rate and population size, trumping all other States with lower vaccination rates.
“Has GPS not learnt from other highly vaccinated countries like Israel and Singapore where they have been experiencing surges in breakthrough infections despite being two of the most vaccinated countries in the world?” she questioned.
Soo also said that by insisting for elections to be held in just a few days shy of Undi18 implementation, denying many Sarawakians to come home to vote, exposing many voters especially the elderly to risk in a potential super spreader event, and depriving political parties of a fair election by imposing restrictions in the name of Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) which practically dispossesses small parties of any campaigning rights, GPS is assured of a walkover victory.
Undi18 refers to the lowering of voting age from 21 to 18 which will be implemented from Jan 1, 2022. — DayakDaily
