KUCHING: The latest number of registered voters in Sarawak stands at 1,943,074.
Caretaker Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the number shows an increase of 59.14 per cent for the 15th general election (GE15) compared to the 1,220,960 voters recorded during the previous GE14.
He said out of that number, 825,791 people are voters aged 21 to 39 who are the largest category while the total number of voters aged 18 to 20 is 129,034 people.
“The latest Sarawak Voters Register recorded a total of 975,618 equal to 50.21 per cent male voters and 967,456 (49.79 per cent) female voters.
“Of the total voters, 25,799 people are OKU namely 25,782 disabled individual voters, seven disabled military and their spouses, and 10 disabled police and their spouses.
“The number of early voters recorded a slight reduction of 22,127 compared to 24,545 according to the record of the GE14 voter register.
“The overall register also shows that the majority of voters are those under the age of 60, which is a total of 1,539,645 while 355,413 voters are aged 60 and over,” he said in a statement on Saturday (Oct 29).
Wan Junaidi also said that a total of 38,148 officers will be on duty for GE15 involving 1,943 polling stations including 55 early voting stations with 4,286 total channels.
“A total of 1,943 polling centres have been gazetted involving schools, longhouses, and several other identified premises. Of that number, 74 polling centres located in rural areas do not have access to telecommunications,” he said.
Wan Junaidi also pointed out that to overcome the issue in the 74 polling stations, the EC had the cooperation of the telecommunications service providers and the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to ensure all the polling stations had communication coverage and that communication is not affected.
“Cooperation with MCMC was also established to ensure that all nomination centres have communication coverage to ensure that nomination day on Nov 5 runs smoothly.
“The EC has also got the cooperation of the Malaysian Insolvency Department (Mdl) and the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to obtain the latest information regarding the taxation records and bankruptcy status of the candidates who will contest,” he said.
Wan Junaidi also said that the EC had the cooperation of the Attorney General during the nomination day to provide legal advice to the Election Management Officer in case of confusion and problems related to the law.
“This is to ensure the smooth running of the election this time, the Sarawak EC has prepared with various preparations involving air, water, and land logistics.
“In fact, if there is a flood during the election, the Sarawak EC has also planned various methods to launch the democratic process in cooperation with all security agencies,” he said.
After listening to a briefing by Sarawak EC Deputy Director (Operations), Hamfatullah Syawal Hamdan on Friday, Wan Junaidi also said that he was satisfied with all the EC’s preparations for the GE15 in the state, especially nomination day on November 5 and voting day on November 19.
