EC: 3.86 million Malaysians are still not registered voters
JOHOR BARU: There are about 3.86 million people in the country aged 21 to 40 who have yet to register as voters despite being eligible to do so.
Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said yesterday he believed apathy was the reason these people had failed to register.
He said some youths did not view voting as a serious matter.
“It is somewhat understandable as when we were young, we did not necessarily see voting as a responsibility that everyone should bear.
“Parents should encourage their children to vote when they are eligible to vote. The EC has also taken the initiative to go to campuses to reach out to those aged 21 and above.
“Our role is to make sure they register and come out to vote,” Hashim told reporters after a voter registration drive by the EC at Pasar Borneo in Taman Megah Ria, near here yesterday.
He said, until March, the total number of voters nationwide registered with the EC stood at 14,305,849.
This figure is the tally that will be included in the latest electoral roll, which is usually updated quarterly.
“The figure of unregistered voters previously stood at 4.06 million in September last year. But now, it has gone down to about 3.86 million unregistered voters, thanks to efforts done via registration drives and others,” he said.
Hashim said, based on past general elections, the trend showed an average of 75 per cent voting turnout in each general election.
He said the EC would not wait for voters to come to it to register, but would instead reach out to eligible voters through its outreach programmes.
“We have caravans that will visit universities to register the students,” he said.
Hashim also denied rumours that those who had not registered before Sept 30 last year would not be able to vote in the 14th general election.
“The EC never issued such a statement.
“Actually, the false news prompted people to rush to the EC, resulting in the EC receiving 500,000 registrations at that time.
On the removal of Dr Ting Tiong Choon by the Sarawak assembly owing to a dual citizenship issue, Hashim said it was not EC’s responsibility to investigate the matter before or after the byelection, which has been set for July 4.
“The EC will register the nomination as long as the candidate can produce a MyKad.
“But if the candidate or the party seeks the court to intervene, we will adhere to the court’s decision,” he said.
On the redelineation exercise, Hashim said this was carried out every eight years, so the process was not something new.