GLOBAL Bersih, an international movement of overseas Malaysians, has petitioned the Election Commission (EC) to set a campaign period of at least 21 to 25 days to allow sufficient time for postal ballots to be received and returned by overseas voters.
This is given that during the 2018 General Election, Malaysians living overseas struggled to receive and return ballots in time due to an extremely short 11-day campaign period.
Yesterday (Oct 20), the EC has set polling day for the 15th General Election (GE15) on Nov 19 (Saturday) with nomination day for candidates on Nov 5 (Saturday) and early voting on Nov 15 (Tuesday).
“Overseas voters should not have to face these difficulties again in the 2022 general election, especially as these problems have been repeatedly brought to the attention of the EC in the past,” the movement pointed out in a media release.
“A short campaign period also makes it challenging for the EC to be able to print and send out ballots in time.”
Given that the potential number of overseas voters has significantly increased, and that there will be additional difficulties for the distribution and return of ballots during the monsoon season and the COVID-19 pandemic, risk abounds that overseas voters will again face huge difficulties hardship to exercise their right to vote through the postal voting process.
These problems will be aggravated by the significant increase in the pool of overseas postal voters. The lowering of the minimum voting age to 18 and the implementation of automatic voter registration will result in the growth of over five million new eligible voters, many of whom would be living overseas.
“The inclusion of Malaysians living in Singapore, South Thailand, Brunei, and Kalimantan in the overseas postal voting system and the possibility of registering online to vote by post will also result in much higher numbers of overseas postal voters,” observed Global Bersih.
“With a larger proportion of postal voters in the overall number of voters, the EC must take into serious consideration the requirements for the postal voting system to function effectively when setting the timeframe for the 15th General Election (GE15).”
Supported by over 5,000 signatories, Global Bersih’s petition also urges the EC to allow non-Malaysians to act as witnesses on the postal ballot documents, to facilitate the voting process for overseas voters in areas where there are few Malaysians.
“After failed attempts to hand over the petition physically to the EC, Global Bersih has sent the petition by e-mail,” added the movement. – Oct 21, 2022
