– Reuters
PUTRAJAYA: The Pakatan Harapan presidential council has agreed to allow automatic voter registration, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The Prime Minister, who is also Pakatan chairman, said this will go along with the proposed amendment to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18.
The council also agreed to allow 18-year-olds to contest as candidates in general elections.
Dr Mahathir said this to reporters after the Pakatan Harapan presidential council here on Monday (July 8).
On the sidelines of the meeting, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman said a meeting with party leaders, including those of the Opposition, will be held in Parliament on Wednesday (July 10).
He said there will be three constitutional amendments to implement the changes, adding that it would be done within the current Parliament session.
"The three constitutional amendments are on lowering the voting age to 18, introducing automatic voter registration and reducing the age of candidacy to 18.
"We will put this in writing and this will be discussed in the meeting. I have already notified the Attorney General's Chambers and the Election Commission so they can act on it.
"I have to thank the Opposition for sharing their concerns and views over the matter. From saying no, and now they are saying yes but with conditions.
"I raised their concerns in the Cabinet, and the presidential council has reached a unanimous agreement.
"This shows that bipartisanship can win in Malaysia," said Syed Saddiq.
The Bill to amend Article 119 of the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age was tabled by Syed Saddiq last Thursday (July 4).
The Bill is expected to be read for the second time on July 16 before being put to vote.
However, it requires a two-thirds majority of 148 votes in the House to amend the Federal Constitution.
There are 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat and Pakatan only has 139 MPs, while the Opposition has a total of 77 lawmakers.
Opposition MPs from Barisan Nasional, PAS and Gabung Parti Sarawak said they would support lowering voting age to 18 if it comes with automatic registration of voters.
Currently, there are almost 15 million registered voters and four million unregistered voters in Malaysia.
Automatic registration would see the number of voters increased by about 30%.
