KOTA KINABALU: Postal voting for Sabahans living elsewhere in the country may not be possible in this election but an Upko leader is proposing another way to help these voters exercise their right.
He is suggesting the authorities set up remote voting centres in Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and even Singapore for the purpose
Upko deputy president Senator Datuk Donald Mojuntin said this would be a viable alternative to postal voting.
He said an over 200,000 Sabah voters were currently registered outside the state, excluding
young ones who may have not changed their addresses following their move to work and study elsewhere.
In a statement Mojuntin said ‘remote voting’ was practised globally and had become more common in the Covid-19 period with countries putting in place measures to curb the spread of the virus.
“Sabah political parties can arrange polling agents to be present in these locations to assure integrity of the vote,” he said.
“These voting centers can be opened during the early voting period over two days to assure that officials will not be administratively burdened by this remote voting initiative.
“While we can all adopt the protocols of using face masks and hand sanitisers, recent events in Kedah show that it only takes one super spreader to infect a whole community.”
Sabahans must be kept safe and allowed to vote safely, he said, calling on the Election Commission to provide for alternative arrangements.
