KUCHING: The Election Committee (EC) should find alternative ways for the people to elect their representatives into the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN).
Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Henry Harry Jinep said this after the recent announcement by Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah expressing worry that should the Sarawak polls be held, it would spark Covid-19 infections in rural areas.
“If the Ministry of Health sees it as too risky to hold an election, then the EC needs to find the solution or alternatives on the matter.
“Personally, I think it is best to leave this matter to the experts as I do not know how long a caretaker government can function once DUN is dissolved or automatically dissolved,” he said on Monday (May 10).
He opined that if elections were held, campaign rallies should be done virtually instead of the normal gatherings or village-to-village visits.
“Limiting gatherings in villages and shortening the campaign period to a week is advisable to curb the spread of the virus.
“In addition, on the polling day itself, the hours should be longer and the EC should provide more counters so that it will be less crowded.”
Henry further advised that polls must be carried out as soon as herd immunity was achieved.
“Though the completion of vaccination will be by the end of August or earlier, the EC should still need to draw necessary standard operating procedures for the campaign rallies and poll day.”
