KOTA KINABALU: The Election Commission (EC) has been urged to make it easier for the political parties and voters, especially those new voters who have been automatically registered upon reaching 18 years old, to check the electoral roll.
Urging this, Tan Sri T.C Goh, President of The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) added that the EC also owed the public and the state government a good explanation, over the drastic increase in the number of Sabah voters, from 1,064,686 voters in GE14 in 2018 to 1,638,806 voters this year for GE15.
He said, it was not surprising that the state government and the people of Sabah are questioning the drastic surge in the number of voters, citing the issue of ‘phantom voters’ which existed in the past, which had plagued the state for many decades. He thus hoped the EC could strive to take appropriate measures to address the public concerns over the issue.
He acknowledged that after the implementation of automatic voter registration and the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 years old, various states in the country, Sabah included, have experienced an increase in the number of voters. The number of Sabah voters too has increased from 1,064,686 voters in GE14 in 2018 to 1,638,806 voters this year for GE15.
He nonetheless opined that in the case of Sabah, the drastic increase in the number of voters could be due to extraneous factors, other than the automatic registration of those 18-years-old new voters, and it warrants a proper clarification by the EC.
In a statement issued today, Goh who is also President of The Federation of Sabah and Labuan Hokkien Associations (FSLHA) thus welcomed and supported the demand of the state government and various political parties, demanding the EC to immediately clarify over the said issue.
He also reiterated that the EC should make it easier for the public and the various political parties to scrutinise the electoral roll.
He underscored that, while it was logical for the number of voters to increase, following the implementation of the automatic registration of voters upon reaching 18 years old, it is important for the EC to ensure that these newly-registered voters are indeed bona fide Sabahans.
He said, this is only appropriate in view of the fact that Sabah has had a long history of been plagued by the perennial issue of ‘phantom voters’, in the past.
“Hence, it is the fervent hope of the people of Sabah that the coming GE15 could be held in a transparent and fair manner,” he concluded. -pr/BNN
