Change of PKR polling dates not conspiracy to favour any candidate

KUALA LUMPUR: The change of the polling dates for the PKR Election 2018 was not a conspiracy to favour any candidate to win, stressed party Central Election Committee (JPP) secretary Ismail Yusop.

He said instead the shift was aimed at ensuring the voters’ registration information was completely clean and accurate.

“It is to avoid any problems on polling day, such as inaccurate information that will hinder voters from voting,” he told Bernama here yesterday.

Ismail said the process to ensure the accuracy of the voters’ list was being carried out throughout the country apart from the simulation and briefing on e-voting.

The polling dates were previously scheduled from Sept 14 to Oct 13, and have been rescheduled to Sept 22 until Oct 28.

The balloting process will commence in Kedah and Penang on Sept 22, followed by Perak and Perlis on Sept 23, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka (Sept 29), Johor (Sept 30), Kelantan and Terengganu (Oct 5), Pahang (Oct 6), Federal Territories (Oct 7), Selangor (Oct 13, 14 and 21), Sarawak (Oct 20) and Sabah on Oct 27 and 28.

Meanwhile, Ismail said most of the states, including Sabah and Sarawak, had already organised briefings on the e-voting and generally voters expressed their relief and satisfaction after being briefed on the system that would be implemented for the first time.

“Until the polling dates, we encourage anyone either the state, groups or candidates who are not very clear about the system to organise a briefing and we are ready to go down to explain it to the voters,” he said.

A total of 800,000 PKR members are eligible to vote at this election that will be carried out via evoting.