Undi18, automatic voter registration gazetted on Dec 1 - EC

Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak said the amendments would come into force on Dec 15 after obtaining the consent of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

He said amendments to the subsidiary laws related to the elections namely Elections (Registration of Voters) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and the Elections (Conduct of Elections) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 were gazetted on Nov 30.

"The amendments will come into force on Dec 15 after receiving the royal assent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong based on Section 17 of the Elections Act 1958," he said in a statement today.

As such, the EC will table the two amendments to the regulations in the Second Meeting of the Fourth Term of the 14th Parliament soon.

Section 3 of the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019 states the amendment to set the minimum voting age to 18 from the current 21, and allow for automatic voter registration to replace the current system which requires Malaysians to apply to register as voters.

The proposed amendments were approved at the second meeting of the second term of the 14th Parliament in July 2019, but were not implemented then.

On Sept 7, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law), Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar ordered the EC to implement Undi18 by Dec 31, to comply with the decision of the Kuching High Court

On Sept 6, the Kuching High Court in Sarawak ordered the EC and the government to implement Undi18 by Dec 31.