All Malaysians, including those living overseas, will be automatically registered as voters, says deputy minister

KUALA LUMPUR: Every Malaysian, including those residing overseas, will be automatically registered as voters, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law) Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin(pic).

She said the Election Commission (EC) is committed to implementing automatic voter registration together with Undi18 by Dec 31, in line with the Sept 3 Kuching High Court landmark decision.

"Every citizen of Malaysia will be automatically registered as a voter, even for those residing overseas," she said in Parliament during Question Time in response to Maria Chin Abdullah (PH-Petaling Jaya) on Wednesday (Oct 6).

Maria had posed a supplementary question to Mas Ermieyati on whether the automatic registration mechanism would be extended to Malaysians living overseas and also to Sabahans and Sarawakians residing in Peninsular Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Mas Ermieyati said postal voting will only be available for EC officers, the military, the police and members of the media who are working on the day of elections as well as civil servants from various government agencies.

Postal votes will also be allowed for Malaysians who could not be present to cast their ballot, and these include students studying abroad and civil servants posted overseas, she said.

However, postal votes are not allowed for Sabahans and Sarawakians residing in the peninsula as well as Malaysians living in Brunei, Singapore, Kalimantan in Indonesia and southern Thailand, she added.

"For Sabah and Sarawak voters residing in Peninsular Malaysia, the EC advises them to change their address based on the place of residence," she said.

On Sept 3, the Kuching High Court ordered Putrajaya to implement Undi18 by Dec 31 at the latest, together with automatic voter registration.

In July 2019, Parliament passed a constitutional amendment to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18 and to allow for automatic voter registration.