Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KOTA BHARU (April 11): The Electoral Commission's decision to set GE14 polling date on a weekday is not expected to affect voter turnout, said Umno information chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa today.

"I think there will be no effect on voters... Malaysia's election history would show that we have had elections on all days except for Friday," Annuar, who is also the BN Publicity and Information Bureau chairman, told reporters during a visit by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak here.

"Secondly the polling process only takes a while. Only outstation voters would be slightly affected [and only] if they are really far away [from their constituent]," added Annuar, who is largely expected to contest for BN in the Ketereh parliamentary seat here.

Malaysia had three general elections with polling set on weekdays, namely in 1982 (April 22-25, Thursday-Monday), 1995 (April 24-25, Monday-Tuesday), as well as 1999 (Nov 25, Monday).

In 1999, the then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed also declared the polling day a public holiday. The average voter turnout that year was 69.3%.

There have also been Malaysian by-elections organised on weekdays, the most notable one being the recent 2015 by-election for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat held on May 7 (Thursday).

Earlier today, the Prime Minister's Office declared GE14 polling date on May 9 as public holiday.

 

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