IT’S MAY 9
PUTRAJAYA: Polling day for the 14th general election (GE14) has been set for Wednesday, May 9, said Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah.
In a press conference at EC headquarters yesterday, Mohd Hashim also announced t hat nomination day will be on April 28 while early voting will be held on May 5.
“The campaigning period is set for 11 days, from nomination day until 11.59pm on May 8.”
He said the EC has appointed 222 election management officers while monitoring activities throughout the campaigning period will be enforced by 445 t e a ms o f E l e c t i o n Campaigning Enforcement officers nationwide.
GE14 will cost about RM500 million, making it the most expensive election in the country’s history. The previous elections cost RM400 million.
“About 259,390 polling and counting agents have been appointed by the EC comprising the public to handle polling operations.
“The nationwide exercise will also see EC utilise 8,989 polling centres comprising 28,995 voting streams,” he said.
Mohd Hashim said the electoral roll for GE14 contains figures as of Dec 31, 2017. This means that those who registered as voters in 2018 will not be eligible to vote in GE14.
In this election, there will be 1 4, 940,624 r egistered voters consisting of 14,636,716 normal voters, 300,255 early voters from the military and police as well as their spouses and 3,653 voters outside the country.
He added that the EC has invited 1 4 countries f rom Asean, the Commonwealth, Asi a n a nd European countries to serve as international observers.
“In addition, we have also invited the Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre, a research and support centre to an election management body based in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
The EC has also appointed representatives from 14 non-governmental organisations and universities as local observers.
Mohd Hashim said both international and local observers are allowed at nomination, early voting, polling, vote counting and official vote tallying centres, adding that the EC will not recognise any other organisations other than the ones appointed.
He reminded those who are opting to register for postal votes using “Borang 1A” to apply before April 28 while for “Borang Kategori 1C”, the closing date is April 23.
There are about 14.9 million registered voters for GE14, compared to 13.3 million during GE13, an increase of 1.6 million voters.
A redelineation exercise conducted by the EC will see changes made to 98 out of 165 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, varying from name changes to the redrawing of electoral borders.