JOHOR BAHRU – The number of postal votes for the Pulai parliamentary by-election and Simpang Jeram state by-election collected from Malaysians in Singapore has been described as unsatisfactory.
A volunteer under the VoteMalaysia initiative Farrah Diyana Mohamad Ali, 35, said only two ballot papers have been collected, but she hoped that the number would increase before the deadline tomorrow night.
1Thirdmedia Movement, one of the movements teaming up with Undi18, a Malaysian youth movement, is assisting in collecting postal votes from Malaysian voters working and residing in the republic.
The team had done the same during the Johor election, the 15th general election and the recent election involving six states.
Farrah Diyana said they applied the same strategy by setting up five collection zones to cover the central, eastern, western, northern, and southern areas of the republic, adding that Malaysian voters just need to contact the volunteers to set up a meeting time to pass the ballots.
“We started collecting on September 1 which will end tomorrow night…we are not sure how many Malaysian citizens will cast their ballots, but based on the survey that we’ve conducted the number is small,” she told Bernama when contacted.
She said the volunteers will be using their vehicles to deliver the ballot papers to Dewan Jubli Intan in Johor Bahru, adding that they plan to leave early to avoid traffic congestion.
The Election Commission said in a statement that a total of 304 postal votes were issued for the by-elections, of which 226 ballots were for the Pulai by-election and 78 for the Simpang Jeram by-election.
The by-elections are being held following the death of Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub on July 23, who held both seats before his passing, with polling day set for this Saturday (September 9). – September 7, 2023