KUALA LUMPUR: The time frame to implement lower voting age from the current 21-years-old to 18 years (Undi18) is expected to take 18 and 24 months.
Election Commission (EC) chairman Azizan Azhar Harun said the commission was setting a time frame as amendments to the Federal Constitution had yet to be gazetted and enforced.
The amendments to the Federal Constitution which were unanimously adopted by Dewan Rakyat on July 16 and Dewan Negara on July 25 this year were:
- Article 119 (1) of the Federal Constitution to reduce age limit eligibility of voters from 21 to 18;
- Article 47 and Section 5 of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution to lower the age from 21 to 18 to become election candidate; and
- Article 119 (4) of the Federal Constitution to implement automatic voter registration.
The EC was also in the midst of preparing a timeline as well as cost analysis of a full implementation of Undi18, Azhar said in a statement.
He said this includes:
i) Upgrading the EC ICT system;
ii) Data requirements from Government departments / agencies, including the National Registration Department, Prisons Department and / or the Court as well as the Health Ministry;
iii) Amendment to any necessary election laws or regulations to implement Undi18; and
iv) Amendments to the respective State Constitution’s to allow a citizen of 18 years-old to stand as a candidate for a state assembly seat
Azhar said at the same time the EC would also need to look into and study matters such as
i) Cost of upcoming elections;
ii) Sufficient election facilities to ensure electorate comfort;
iii) Requirement of additional EC human resource and election personnel;
iv) Study on new voting centres that needs to be established to accommodate increased voters in the next elections; and
v) Determination of new voters' locality.
Azhar said the EC would need to consider all this to ensure that an effective approach is put in place when Undi18 takes-off.
“I would like to make it clear that Undi18 will only be implemented after taking into account views from various quarters.
“The expected implementation of Undi18 will either be implemented fully once or separately which is expected to take place between 18 and 24 months from now,” said Azhar.
He said when Undi18 was implemented, all Malaysian citizens who had reached the age of 18 years and above but who had yet to register, would be automatically registered as voters.
Azhar said at the moment voter registration involving those who were qualified to vote and those reaching the age of 21 years and above was done by filing up Form A at the EC office, EC mobile counters, Post Office, through the assistant electoral registrar or via online at mysprdaftar.spr.gov.my.
“In the event any citizen who has not registered as a voter and elections are held before Undi18 is implemented, they cannot vote in the polls,” he said.
Azhar said this was because their name was not contained in the registered voters list which would be utilised in the election. The gazetting of new names included in the electoral list takes between four to five months.
He said new voters registered automatically would be done based on their domicile address as contained in their identity cards, which is the current practice.