THE Election Commission (EC) and National Registration Department (NRD) have been asked to provide an explanation regarding the dubious surge in the number of new voters in Sabah, Chief Minister Hajiji Noor said.

He said the matter has been discussed in the Sabah cabinet meeting on Wednesday, and EC and NRD have been asked to give an explanation by next Tuesday.

“There is something doubtful to us and it has been discussed by the state cabinet… the surge in the number of new voters, mostly registered as Malays in the latest electoral roll may not be from this state or the peninsula,” he said in a statement today.

“This cannot be taken lightly. Others will come to our area later. We don’t want people to get power from the ballot box in this way. That’s why we made a report with the relevant parties.”

Earlier, the media reported a sudden increase in the number of voters in Sabah from 1,064,686 during the 2018 general election to 1,638,806 this year.

Meanwhile, Hajiji announced that the state government will release some land in the Sabah Forest Industries area to be used as a village reserve for the people. – Bernama, October 22, 2022.