JOHOR BARU: The Election Commission (EC) should break down the voting trends by gender to better understand the turnout of men and women, says Teo Nie Ching.
Teo said that the voter data collected by the EC is currently broken down by race and age groups.
“It would be good to include the gender break-down as it is also important for us to understand voting trends among women and their participation in political issues," said the Deputy Communications and Digital Minister
“If we can prove that women have an influence and a high turn-out in the polls, it will empower women and the women agenda,” said Teo, who is also the Kulai MP
The DAP national publicity secretary said this at the Johor Unity Wanita Assembly at the Cerebral Palsy Association hall here on Saturday (Sept 2).
She added that the male-female voter ratio for the Pulai seat was quite balanced and that women played a significant role in determining the outcome of the by-election for the parliamentary constituency.
Pulai, which has 166,653 registered voters, is contested by Pakatan Harapan’s Suhaizan Kayat, Perikatan Nasional’s Zulkifli Jaafar and Independent candidate Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi.
It is a mixed seat with Malays making up 44.18% of the total number of registered voters, followed by the Chinese (40.46%), Indians (12.31%) and other ethnicities (3.06%).
The Parliamentary by-election is being held together with the Simpang Jeram state seat by-election, both left vacant with the passing of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, who was also Pulai MP and Simpang Jeram assemblyman.
The polling date is set for Sept 9.
