United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC) chairperson Syed Rifqi Najmuddin (centre) offering suggestions for better postal voting services. Also present were (from left) Badan Perhubungan United Kingdom (BPN UK) information chief Izlan Ismail, Undi18 co-founder Qyira Yusri and Kesatuan Penuntut Undang-Undang di United Kingdom dan Ireland (KPUM) vice-president Lean Kai Ching. — Photo: IZZRAFIQ ALIAS / The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: The postal voting system in the country needs to be improved to avoid a low turnout of newly eligible voters for the 15th General Election (GE15), says the VoteMalaysia Coalition (VMC).
The youth postal voter advocate group said that many Malaysians overseas became eligible to vote with the voting age lowered to 18 and the implementation of automatic voter registration (AVR).
VMC said the Election Commission (EC) must take more steps to improve the postal voting system in order to prevent low voter turnout similar to the recent Johor elections.
"Postal voters found that the registration period of only ten days was way too short and (this) must be extended along with a better postal voting awareness campaign.
"The previous 14-day campaign period should also be increased to a minimum of 21 days to better allow Malaysians around the world to cast their votes in time.
"The EC should also commission Malaysian embassies and high commissions overseas to play an active role to help Malaysians cast their ballots.
"They can either act as polling stations or be an effective courier service to transport the votes back to Malaysia," said VMC's Syed Rifqi Najmuddin.
Syed, who is also United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC) chairman, said votes from Malaysians abroad have become more important for the upcoming election.
"Malaysia's electoral roll is expected to grow to 21.1 million voters, up from the 14.9 million during GE14.
"This is significant as a good portion of Malaysians overseas tend to be students who may still be unaware that they are now eligible to vote or even know how to vote from abroad.
"Postal voter turnout was already low at only about 0.8% or 7,979 people out of at least a million Malaysians overseas during GE14.
"It is vital that the EC spreads awareness on how to apply to be a postal voter on the MySPR platform for new voters as this is not automatic under the AVR system," Syed said.
He also urged for the MySPR platform to open for applications as there are increasing calls to hold the election soon.
He added that the VMC would organise various efforts to make postal voting more accessible and convenient for all Malaysians.
"We are currently planning to hold postal voting drives with the cooperation of various Malaysian student representative organisations worldwide to help overseas Malaysians cast their vote more easily.
"We also plan to set up donation drives to help pay for the postal voting costs to offset the costs and hopefully encourage more people to vote," he said.
The VMC currently consists of members from fourteen various Malaysian youth movements from across the world and locally which include Undi 18, Malaysian Students' Global Alliance, Malaysian Students' Council of Australia, UKEC, National Assembly of Malaysian Students in America, Majlis Perundingan Mahasiswa Malaysia Mesir, Malaysian Student Association in Turkiye, Malaysian Students' Association in Japan, Persatuan Mahasiswa Malaysia Maghribi, Kesatuan Penuntut Undang-Undang di United Kingdom dan Ireland, Badan Perhubungan United Kingdom, Badan Perhubungan Ireland, Malaysian Democratic Alliance UK and Institut Demokrasi & Emansipasi Anak Muda.
The coalition is also endorsed by a further sixty eight other societies and voting rights organisations including Bersih Malaysia and Malaysian Watchdog, among others.
