Register before Sunday to vote from June

The electoral roll for the first quarter of this year would close on March 31, says the EC.

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians who register before this Sunday will have the opportunity to vote if the 13th general election is held in June or after.

Election Commission (EC) chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the electoral roll for the first quarter of this year would close on March 31 and the 1/2012 quarter supplementary electoral roll is expected to be gazetted in May.

“If the applicants are not involved in the objections, they are eligible to vote,” he said when contacted, here, today.

He was asked whether Malaysian citizens who registered as voters in the first quarter of this year would be able to vote in the 13th general election if it is held in June or after.

Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz said the electronic year-long voter registration system (Sistem Pendafter Pemilih Sepanjang Tahun – e-SPPST) was still on, whereby the registration was being carried out daily, and reviewing and gazetting of the electoral roll done every three months.

He said the registration of voters until the gazetting process would take about four and a half months.
“On average, the EC handles 200,000 to 250,000 new voter registration applications and change of address of polling centre for every quarter of the year.

Up to the last quarter of 2011 ending Dec 31, the number of registered voters nationwide was 12,595,268 while 3,088,540 or 19.7% had yet to register as voters.

Up to February this year, he said, the number of Malaysians who had reached the age of 21 and eligible to vote stood at 15,683,808.

New voter registration applications or change of address of polling centre can be made at any computerised post office, the EC mobile registration counters, or the counters at the EC headquarters in Putrajaya or state EC offices.

- Bernama