KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — Postal voting is still relevant and will continue to be used in future elections, the Dewan Rakyat was told Monday.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said postal voting was used for Malaysians working or studying full-time overseas, election workers, military personnel, General Operations Force members and policemen.
If postal voting was abolished, it could undermine security and public order which were the responsibilities of the security forces and also deprive workers and students overseas from exercising their right to vote, he said.
“I don’t think that it should be abolished but maybe the method can be further improved because it is the right of every citizen to vote in the election,” he said in reply to Gwo-Burne Loh (PKR-Kelana Jaya) who wanted to know whether there was a need for postal voting in future elections.
On Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s oral reply on postal votes that were not received by 5pm on polling day, Nazri said that this was beyond the control of the Election Commission because eligible voters had a duty to return the postal votes before 5pm.
On the numerous election petitions that were filed after the March 8 general election, he said it showed that the democratic system was alive and well, not that the election system was defective.