All hands on deck for polls

Hard at work: EC officers setting up a nomination centre for GE15 in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. — LOW BOON TAT/THE STAR

PETALING JAYA: A total of 625 enforcement teams will be on the ground to ensure that election laws and regulations are followed during the 15th General Election (GE15), said the Election Commission (EC).

“The team will be made up not only of representatives from the police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and EC, but also representatives of candidates contesting in the polls,” an EC spokesman said during a media briefing yesterday.

The teams would be on the ground to keep tabs on any election offences that might occur during the campaign period, he added.

There were calls following the previous general election in 2018 for laws against hate speech that could spark racial tension.

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At present, laws under the Penal Code and Sedition Act, including Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, are used to curb hate speech.

Apart from the enforcement teams, the EC spokesman said a total of 363,151 EC personnel would be on duty to manage the election process, which would be overseen by 222 returning officers and 1,264 assistants.

He said 9,536 voting centres would be set up nationwide, with a total of 39,318 polling booths.

The EC spokesman said a total of 21,173,638 registered voters would be eligible to cast their ballots in GE15 based on verified rolls as at Oct 9 this year.

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“The largest group of voters are those between the ages of 30 and 39, with a total of 4,681,348 voters.

“New voters under the Under18 amendment between the ages of 18 and 20 make up only 1,393,549 voters,” he added.

The other voter age groups were those between 21 and 29 (4,614,429), 40 and 49 (3,645,248), 50 and 59 (3,027,498), 60 and 69 (2,277,070), 70 and 79 (1,093,951), 80 and 89 (353,631) and above 90 (86,914).

Meanwhile, over 6,000 media personnel will cover GE15.

“About 100 foreign media personnel have also applied for the media pass,” the spokesman said, adding that there would be no extension of the Oct 31 deadline for media pass applications.

Asked whether the EC could announce the winner of GE15 before midnight on polling day, the spokesman said this would only be done if a party or coalition had secured the 112 majority seats.

“We will not make an announcement until a simple majority of 112 seats is achieved. This will only be done after the last ballot box is finally counted,” he said.

Nomination of candidates for GE15 will take place on Nov 5, with polling day on Nov 19. Early voting will take place on Nov 15.