The Election Commission (EC) will not impose health criteria for candidacy in the 13th general election, said its deputy chairperson, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

He said it was up to political parties to decide whether they want probable candidates to meet the health criteria required to function as elected representatives.

As an independent and impartial body, the EC will not interfere or give advice to political parties on the matter, he told reporters after attending a briefing on preparations for the 13th general election for returning officers and assistant returning officers in Johor Baru today.

He was asked whether the EC would advise political parties to field medically fit candidates in the next general election as 16 by-elections had to be held in the past four years after the elected representatives died of various ailments.

Meanwhile, Wan Ahmad said 3.6 million people, who were eligible to vote in the country, shied away despite various measures carried out by the EC to entice them to register as voters.

On preparations for the next general election in Johor, which has 1.5 million voters, he said the EC had enlisted 25,000 election workers, including 26 returning officers and 90 assistant returning officers and identified 908 schools, halls and stadiums as polling centres.

He said the EC expected briefings and training for all election workers would be completed in March.