MIRI – The Election Commission (EC) has received proposals for a seven-day period for voters to cast their votes during the upcoming Sarawak state election to prevent crowding during the current Covid-19 crisis.
The Vibes has learnt that numerous politicians have sent official requests to the EC to consider staggered balloting.
However, the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is not agreeable to this proposal, it is learnt.
Dennis Ngau, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s (PBB) branch chief for Telang Usan, said the proposal was mooted by the opposition parties.
“That proposal was from certain politicians from opposing camps, not from us,” he said when contacted.
PBB is the backbone party of the GPS, with the other component parties being Sarawak United Peoples Party, Parti Rakyat Sarawak, and Progressive Democratic Party.
Ngau, who is the incumbent state assemblyman for Telang Usan, said GPS feels that staggered voting would cause many logistical nightmares.
“The usual practice is that vote counting will take place on the day of balloting after the casting of votes is completed.
“If staggered voting over a period of a few days is to be implemented, the votes that have been cast will need to be kept in a very secure place before the counting and final tallying.”
He questioned where the cast ballot papers would be kept securely over that period of time before counting and tallying, saying that it would be a big challenge, especially in rural constituencies.
“Such a form of staggered voting has never been done before here,” he said.
“We in Sarawak don't have the necessary experience and manpower to facilitate it, even though the move can prevent crowding.
“It is not practical on the ground for such a big state like Sarawak,” he said.
Prevent crowding during single-day voting
Ngau said he personally feels that voting, counting, and tallying can still be carried out safely and completed within one day, despite the threat of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in Sarawak.
“The crucial issue at hand is how the EC will set things up in such a way that crowding can be prevented during the casting of votes.The standard operating procedures will also have to be very carefully laid out,” he said.
Asked about talk that GPS has proposed the third week of next month for polling, Ngau said it is better not to speculate further.
“The Agong had proclaimed an emergency for Sarawak until February next year, but we in PBB are ready to go to the polls at any time,” he said.
On whether the king will lift the emergency earlier, he said the state can only wait for this to be announced.
A state DAP leader had claimed there are clear signs that GPS is adamant on calling for the election this year and is pushing the Agong to “pull the trigger”.
Chiew Ching Sing, 7th-term state assemblyman for Tanjung Batu, claimed recently that GPS has already set late November for polling.
“GPS wants to rush through the state polls before the electoral roll with new voters can be used early next year, as the new roll will include more than a million new voters, mostly young ones from the Undi18 category, and those who can vote for the first time under the automatic voter registration exercise.
“Johari and GPS want the state polls before the end of November, but they are pushing to the Agong to pull the trigger. They have petitioned the Agong to lift the localised state emergency now,” said Chiew, the most senior Sarawak DAP assemblyman and its former deputy state chairman.
Meanwhile, Sarawak PKR has sent a letter to the palace to petition the Agong not to allow GPS to have the state elections before the emergency expires in February.
The petition was sent from the party’s secretariat in Kuching to the palace in Kuala Lumpur last week. It was signed by the party’s acting state leadership council chairman Abang Zulkifli Engkeh.
The letter followed in the footsteps of state opposition leader Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, who is president of Parti Sarawak Bersatu.
Wong had early last week already sent a petition to the Agong urging him not to lift the emergency in Sarawak as yet because the Covid-19 situation is still very serious with daily increase in new infections, ICU admissions and fatalities. – The Vibes, October 26, 2021
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