Choose the future you want, Bersih urges voters

PETALING JAYA: Bersih has launched its #VoteFuture campaign to encourage voter participation in GE15, saying that a high voter turnout is vital for electing a government with a strong mandate.

The campaign aims to attain a voter turnout of not less than 70% or 14.8 million voters in GE15, which would be an increase of 2.5 million voters compared with GE14 in 2018.

Bersih chairman Thomas Fann said it chose the term “future” for the campaign because it believes the nation’s future is at stake and that the upcoming election is about choosing the future we want.

He said despite an increase in the electoral roll for GE15, it would be unlikely to surpass the record turnouts in GE13 (in 2013) and GE14, which were reported to be approximately 84% and 82% respectively.

“This is simply because of this huge influx of new voters in this term of election,” he added.

Fann said in order to increase voter turnout in this election, it is essential to target new and first-time voters, particularly young people and those who have never voted before.

“We need young voters or those who have never voted before to turn out or at least about 2.5 million to come out before we can touch 70% of voter turnout,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

“Democracy is only meaningful when there is mass participation by the public.”