KOTA KINABALU: The Election Commission should allow postal voting for voters living outside Sabah during the coming state election, says Datuk Seri Mustapha Sakmud.
The Sabah PKR chairman said providing postal voting would help eligible Sabahans fulfil their rights without bearing the high cost of flights to return home to cast their votes.
"The right to vote is the basis of democracy but many Sabahans who live in Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and abroad face difficulties in returning home to fulfil this responsibility.
"The high cost of flights and logistical constraints continue to be the main obstacle to their participation in the elections," he said in a statement here Saturday (Feb 22).
As of Dec 2024, he said there were 1.69 million registered voters in Sabah with more than 55% consisting of those aged 18 to 39 years.
He said there are more than 200,000 Sabahans working and studying in Peninsular Malaysia.
Apart from postal voting, Mustapha suggested that the EC explore other voting methods to make it more accessible for Sabahans to cast their votes from outside the state.
Among methods suggested was to use a secure online voting system as implemented in Estonia.
"Establish strategic polling centres in other states as was done in the last Indonesian general election where they opened six polling centres throughout Malaysia.
"This way, Sabah voters can exercise their rights at designated voting centres in the main cities in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak without having to return to Sabah," he said.
He said the government has taken initiatives to provide subsidies to ensure the flight cost of RM599 for travel between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan during the festive season but not for the state election.
Cost of flights can go up to RM1,700 for each person.
