EC must put in place plan for safe polls

THE Sarawak state election would be on the cards by now had a new Emergency proclamation not been issued for the state.

The state legislative assembly’s five-year term was due to end on June 6 this year, after which polls must be held within 60 days according to the state constitution.

However, this was suspended due to the nationwide Emergency in place from Jan 12 to Aug 1 to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

The lifting of the Emergency on Aug 1 would have required the state election to be held within 60 days from Aug 2.

But as cases continued to remain high, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong decreed a fresh Emergency proclamation for Sarawak from Aug 2 to Feb 2 next year to further suspend the state election and prevent any more increase in the spread of the virus.

It’s easy to understand the concerns over holding elections now, especially as Sarawak is currently seeing a surge in Covid-19 with up to over 2,000 cases daily, as the highly infectious Delta variant emerges as the dominant strain in the state.

At the same time, this must be weighed against the fact that the state legislative assembly’s term has expired and that the election cannot be put off indefinitely, in order to uphold democratic practices and institutions.

To be fair to the state government, it is keen for the polls to be held once the situation permits in order to obtain a mandate from the people without further delay.

Towards this end, there are suggestions that the King can be advised to lift the Emergency earlier should the pandemic be brought under control.

The question now is how to hold the election safely. This is where the Election Commission (EC) must step up in its planning and preparations.

In fact, civil society groups in Sarawak have been calling on the EC to prepare the standard operating procedure and implement reforms to allow a safe election since the nationwide Emergency was first proclaimed.

After all, it is no secret that the state election is due this year if not for the Emergency.

Moreover, the Covid-19 immunisation programme in Sarawak was accelerated in June with the aim of achieving herd immunity by August with the polls in mind.

As Rise of Sarawak Efforts (Rose) puts it, the EC should not waste the further six months of the Emergency and start putting in place the mechanisms for a safe election in Sarawak, more so since Covid-19 is likely to become endemic.

The civil society group proposed special voting arrangements which would allow voters to cast their ballots without having to turn up in person at polling stations, thereby reducing crowds on polling day. These include postal voting, advance voting, mobile voting and even electronic voting.

Similarly, Sarawak Bersih advocated advance voting for Sarawakian voters residing elsewhere in Malaysia and postal voting for those in neighbouring countries like Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia.

The electoral watchdog also called for broadcast campaigning and free airtime for all candidates to replace in-person canvassing and rallies to make it safer for voters and party workers.

In addition, Sarawak Bersih said polling could be done over two days with specified time slots for voters, so as to limit the number of voters present at each polling station at any given time.

The EC can also learn from the experience of other countries that held elections during the pandemic.

More importantly, it should make its plans for holding the state election known, as well as the measures to be implemented to ensure a safe campaign and participation by voters.

These measures should be announced well in advance of the polls so that political parties and voters know what to do.

While public health and safety should not be compromised, special voting mechanisms as recommended by the civil society groups should be put in place so that voters will not be prevented from exercising their democratic right due to movement restrictions or quarantine requirements.

With five months to go before the Emergency in Sarawak is scheduled to end, there is no time to lose for the EC to have all its preparations in place for a safe state election.