THE Sabah elections will be the Election Commission’s (EC) first major logistical challenge since the 2018 general election, said Azmi Sharom.

The acting EC chairman said the electoral authority will hold a special meeting in two weeks to lay the groundwork for the state polls involving 73 state seats.

“This will not be the same as the Chini or the Slim by-elections. It will take time to figure out the logistics to ensure the state elections are carried out smoothly.

“We can’t rush the preparations, we have to plan properly,” Azmi told reporters after launching a Bersih 2.0 workshop on a proposal to amend election offences.

He said the Sabah polls will go ahead despite a judicial review application recently filed at the Kota Kinabalu High Court challenging the move to hold elections during a pandemic.

Azmi confirmed that the elections must be held by September 28, or within 60 days of the dissolution of the state assembly on July 30.

On July 30, Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal announced the state assembly was dissolved hours after former chief minister Musa Aman claimed the opposition bloc, led by Umno, had secured a simple majority to form the state government.

The Sabah State Legislative Assembly has 65 representatives, including five who are nominated. A simple majority is 33 seats.

Prior to the defections, the Warisan-led state government had 45 seats while the opposition bloc had 20.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has said it will investigate allegations that Sabah assemblymen were offered money and positions to switch parties.

Meanwhile, at today’s workshop, Azmi agreed with proposals to grant the EC enforcement powers.

“This is one problem we face. The public thinks the EC has a lot of power during elections and that we can go out and arrest people and throw them in jail and all that.

“We are not the police, we don’t have guns or batons,” he said.

Instead, Azmi said he feared for the safety of his staff during such emotion-charged times.

“I’m afraid my staff will get beaten up. You have four people (from the EC) trying to control a ceramah, where passions are inflamed by politics, and there are 500 of them. And you’re telling them to stop.”

Bersih 2.0 chairman Thomas Fann and Parliament Special Select Committee on Election chairman, Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, were also present at the workshop held in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur. – August 4, 2020.