KUCHING, Dec 2: The lowering of the eligible voter age to 18-years-old (Undi18) and implementation of automatic voter registration (AVR) will take effect starting Dec 15.
Election Commission of Malaysia (EC) secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak in announcing this, said Sections 3(a) and (b) of the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019 in relation to Undi18 and AVR respectively have been gazetted yesterday (Dec 1).
This was following consent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
Meanwhile, Ikmalrudin also informed that amendments to the subsidiary legislation relating to elections were gazetted Nov 30 and will similarly come into force on Dec 15 following consent from the King based on Section 17 of the Elections Act 1958.
The legislations, he added, involved the Election (Registration of Voters) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and the Election Regulations (Conduct of Elections) (Amendment) 2021.
“Thus, EC will table the two regulation amendments in the Second Meeting of the Fourth Session of the 14th Parliament (2021) in the near future,” he said in a statement today.
In the upcoming 12th Sarawak State Election (PRN12), however, EC will be using the Q2/2021 electoral roll which is updated until Nov 2, 2021, meaning 18 to 20-year-olds will still not be eligible to cast their votes in the State polls just yet.
This was mentioned by EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh in a prior press conference on Nov 24, and was again confirmed by an EC officer during the PRN12 briefing at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today. — DayakDaily
