KOTA KINABALU – It is the constitutional right of every eligible Malaysian to vote, says Sabah Law Society, after a senior minister announced that Covid-19 patients will not get to vote in the state polls on Saturday.
Society president Roger Chin said the right to vote is provided for under Article 119 of the Federal Constitution.
“Article 119 provides that a citizen of Malaysia is entitled to vote in the constituency that the citizen is a resident (or where he is an absent voter)...
“This provision makes it very clear that every registered voter is endowed with the right to cast a vote, therefore must be protected at all times, even during a pandemic,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Some 1.12 million Sabahans will get to elect a state government this Saturday after caretaker chief minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal announced an early dissolution of the assembly after being in power for 26 months.
Chin said a fair election process should be carried out for all voters despite the Covid-19 pandemic “in the spirit of upholding the constitutional right to vote”.
He added Section 14 of the Election Acts 1958, whereby the EC could use any public building as a polling centre and consider hospitals and health facilities to be used to cast ballots.
“It goes without saying, the strictest SOP should be applied to avoid any possibility of the spread of Covid-19,” he said.
Yesterday, Senior (security cluster) Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a special meeting on the implementation of recovery movement control order has decided not to allow Covid-19 patients to vote to reduce the risk of transmission.
Sixty new Covid-19 positive cases were recorded in Sabah on Tuesday, bringing the total of infections to 1,189 since the first case was detected in March.
The number of cases in Sabah has spiked in recent weeks with cases being detected in Papar, Kunak, Tawau, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tongod.
Meanwhile, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) is appalled by the Covid-19 restriction, saying Malaysians’ right to vote cannot be denied even by a minister.
He said the EC is duty bound to facilitate voting and suggested a special arrangement ne made for Covid-19 patients to vote from their hospital beds.
“This will be in compliance with the Guidelines for Prevention of Covid-19 During Elections (1), issued by the EC where it states that Covid-19 positive patients are not allowed to leave the hospital to cast their votes.”
Bersih 2.0 said the EC would be liable to suits if it fails to facilitate voting for Covid-19 patients in Sabah.
“Also, any person or election officers who willfully prevents any person who is entitled to vote from voting, would have committed an offence under Section 4(d) or Section 9 of the Election Offences Act 1954,” it said.
Bersih 2.0 said it is ready to provide legal assistance to Covid-19 patients prevented from exercising their right to vote this Saturday.
“We call on the EC to fulfil its duty and rise to the challenge of conducting elections safely even during a health crisis and demonstrate to the Malaysian public the importance of voting and the value of every single vote.” – The Vibes, September 24, 2020
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