Nurul Izzah: Let my father vote

BUKIT MERTAJAM: PKR has called on the Government to let Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim cast his vote in the Permatang Pauh by-election.

Party vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said her father should be allowed to vote on polling day.

She claimed the Home Ministry had plans to allow convicts to vote in elections.

“Allowing inmates to exercise their right to vote in elections is a good move and I welcome it.

“The Prison Act allows convicts to leave the prison on certain occasions such as funerals, and allowing them to vote is also in line with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s recommendations,” she said.

Anwar is currently serving a five-year sentence in the Sungai Buloh prison for sodomy.

Nurul Izzah claimed Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had raised the matter in July 2013.

“It has been over a year and I’m sure a mechanism is in place,” she told a press conference at Aman Foundation in Penanti yesterday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid, when asked on Nurul Izzah’s statement after launching the Mobile Community Transformation Centre in Per­matang Pauh, said as far as he was aware, inmates were not allowed to vote.

“However, I will leave it to the Election Commission to decide on the matter,” he said, adding that if it was allowed, ballot papers could be issued to the relevant inmates.