THE Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) has proposed that voters be granted a period of two days to “cool off” at the end of an election campaign before going to the polls.

ERC chairman Ab Rashid Ab Rahman said this was to give voters the time to think over their decision at the ballot adding that this was practised in other countries, some of which even set a cooling-off period of up to 15 days.

No campaigning is allow during this period. The “calm” is meant to help voters reflect on what they saw and heard on the campaign trail, which can often be a tense and heated affair.

“(Voters should) calm down for two days and only then go out to vote,” he told The Malaysian Insight in an interview at his office in Putrajaya earlier this week.

All political parties must also remove their campaign materials, such as posters and banners from the public sphere during the cooling-off period.

“There should be nothing, no sign of propaganda or campaign materials. Voters are just to go to the polling centre and mark their ‘X’,” Rashid said.

The Malaysian election system observes a no-campaign period – from midnight on the last day of campaigning to 5pm the next day when polling closes. This means that voters go ahead and cast their ballots without time to cool off and think.

And in many cases, politicians and party workers have been known to neglect the ban on campaigning on polling day. This is an offence under the Elections Offences Act 1954, which carries a jail sentence not exceeding a year or a fine not exceeding RM5,000.

The Election Commission had first broached the concept of a cooling-off period in 2014, after its efficacy was seen in Indonesia’s presidential election, which observes a cooling-off period of three months.

“We will suggest this and it will be up to the government to make the necessary legal amendments,” said Rashid.

Rashid, who was EC chairman from 2000 and 2008 and who has served the commission for 27 years, has led the ERC since it was formed in August last year.

The ERC’s two-year mandate is to review current election system and laws, and to recommend  changes for improvement to the government.

Rashid acknowledged that not all of his committee’s proposals could be implemented immediately.

Indonesia took nearly 20 years to implement the electoral reforms that are today a part of its election system, while New Zealand took 12, he said.

“On some matters, funding is needed, on others, more time is needed.

“We only hope that the government will agree first and then work at implementation in stages.”

Rashid said the ERC’s final report for the government on all its proposed reforms will be ready by 2020, when the committee’s mandate is up.

He hoped the government would agree to make the report public.

“The public must know. Personally, I agree it should be disclosed to the public so that they know what the weaknesses are and what we are doing to address them.”

He said this would allow checks and balances on the government and ensure it was accountable for its actions. – December 21, 2019.