There has been an almost 60% increase in the number of voters in Sarawak for the upcoming general election, bringing the figure to 1.94 million registered electors, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said.

He said this is a huge increase when compared to 1.22 million voters recorded during the 2018 polls.

“Of that number, 825,791 are aged 21 to 39 years, which is the largest category, while the number of voters aged 18 to 20 years is 129,034,” he said in a statement.

“A total of 975,618 or 50.21% of voters are male while 967,456 (49.79%) are female voters.”

He said 38,148 officers will be on duty during the election, which involves 1,943 polling stations, including 55 for early voting with 4,286 channels.

“A total of 1,943 voting centres have been gazetted, involving schools, longhouses and other identified premises. From that number, 74 polling stations located in rural areas have no access to telecommunications,” he said.

“In order to overcome the shortcomings, the EC has received cooperation from telecommunications service providers and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to ensure that all communications at polling stations are not affected.”

Wan Junaidi said cooperation with MCMC has been established to ensure that all nomination centres have communication coverage on nomination day.

He said the EC has an agreement with the Department of Insolvency and Inland Revenue Board to obtain the latest information regarding taxation records and bankruptcy status of would-be election candidates.

“The attorney-general during the nomination day is to give legal advice to EC officers in case of confusion and legal problems,” he said.

“To ensure things run smoothly, the Sarawak EC has made preparations involving air, water and land logistics.

“If there is a flood during the election, the Sarawak EC has various methods to continue the democratic process.”

The EC has set November 19 as polling day. Nomination day is on November 5 and early polling will be held on November 15. – October 29, 2022.