ANY individual can object to a new voter registration, the Election Commission (EC) says, noting that the objection need not be made by groups or political parties.

Its chairman, Mohd Hashim Abdullah, said any person on the electoral roll for a constituency could question the validity of new voters.

He said they may also object to the inclusion of their name or others by presenting reasons and evidence.

Hashim was commenting on reports of certain parties challenging the validity of newly registered voters. The latter would have to attend a public inquiry at an EC branch to defend their applications if they are to vote in the 14th general election (GE14). 

According to the EC, there are about four million Malaysians yet to register as voters. Between 2015 and the third quarter of 2016, the EC registered 942,704 new voters.

The number of objections received by the EC in the corresponding period was 9,730 (1%).

“Out of the 9,730 objections filed with the EC, a total of 1,706 objections (17%) were approved by the EC, while 2,426 objections (25%) were rejected. A total of 5,598 objections (57%) are still in the process of public inquiry.”

Before accepting an objection, Hashim said, the EC would first examine the objections and review all the evidence, including documents, submitted by the objectors.

“If all the evidence is sufficient, we will carry out investigations in the field before the public inquiry.

“If the objector fails to produce sufficient evidence within the stipulated period, the EC can reject the objection. The public inquiry will only be conducted for cases that have fundamental reason and evidence.”

An objector is only allowed to object once and not to more than 20 new voters. Each objection is subject to a RM10 fee.

The only way for a new voter to find out his or her status is to check with the EC or enquire via phone, text message or online. – April 3, 2017.