DAP, PAS, PKR all say polling should be held on a weekend to make it easy for voters.
- Guan Eng says mid-week polling to reduce voter turnout, favouring BN
- Questions raised if EC has other motives for selecting mid-week date
- Mahathir called it “undemocratic”
Three opposition parties are disappointed with the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to have polling on a working day, FMT reported.
According to the news portal, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng accused the EC of setting a mid-week polling date for the 14th general election (GE14) to favour Barisan Nasional (BN).
“I think the polling date is designed to lower the turnout (of voters) to benefit BN.
“They want to prevent people from voting on the 1MDB (issue) and ringing the death knell on the GST (goods and services tax),” Lim was quoted saying.
He claimed that the May 9 polling date would make it “virtually impossible” for those working out of town to return home to vote.
He said even if polling day was declared a public holiday, there would be no time for voters to travel to their respective hometowns.
“We are disappointed by the decision to hold polling during mid-week. We feel polling day should be on a weekend, otherwise, how do you get people to come out to vote?
“We can only urge our supporters to take leave to come back home to vote because they (the ruling government) want to prevent change.”
Lim said voters working in neighbouring Singapore and other foreign countries would be most affected.
“Unless they take leave to return, but really, how do we take leave like this? Isn’t it a bit too late?
“For the time being, May 9 should be declared a public holiday. It is just too important.”
DAP’s M Kulasegaran agrees that May 9 declared a public holiday.
“The decision to hold polling on a working day hardly has the interests and convenience of voters in mind.
“What is the logic in giving priority to holding nominations on a weekend but holding the more significant polling day on a weekday?”
He asked if the EC was acting in the interest of, or had been influenced by BN.
A lawyer, Kulasegaran reminded employers to follow Section 25 of the Elections Act 1958.
This law says that “every employer shall, on polling day, allow every voter a reasonable period for voting, and no employer shall make any deduction from the pay. Those who refuse or intimidate voters shall be liable to a fine of RM5,000 or to imprisonment for one (1) year”.
PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan told FMT the party was disappointed with the decision as polling day should be on a Sunday.
“Our voters are mostly in KL. They may not be able to get leave on that day. Many of our voters may not even turn up. The EC should not be holding it on a working day,” he said.
The Islamist party is also disappointed that the polling date is so close to the fasting month, which starts from mid-May.
“Some of our voters will usually travel with their families to vote. But now, they might think otherwise to save cost so that they can spend the money during Raya,” he was quoted saying.
Therefore, he said, PAS would probably have to hire buses to make it easy for voters from big cities to vote in Kelantan.
PKR’s Wong Chen asked if the reason polling had been fixed for a Wednesday was that “Umno is afraid of a big turnout”. Some analysts and politicians believe a high voter turnout will benefit the opposition.
He too urged to all employers to grant outstation voters a couple of days off so that they could vote.”
Meanwhile, Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad called the mid-week polling date as “undemocratic”.