Aug 30 decision on legal bid for lower voting age nationwide
Five Sarawakian youths will know on the eve of Merdeka Day this month whether 18-year-olds nationwide would be eligible to vote.
The Kuching High Court today set Aug 30 to deliver its verdict on Undi Sarawak’s judicial review to compel the federal government to implement the lowering of voting age from 21 to 18.
Judicial commissioner Alexander Liew fixed the decision date, following...
Five Sarawakian youths will know on the eve of Merdeka Day this month whether 18-year-olds nationwide would be eligible to vote.
The Kuching High Court today set Aug 30 to deliver its verdict on Undi Sarawak’s judicial review to compel the federal government to implement the lowering of voting age from 21 to 18.
Judicial commissioner Alexander Liew fixed the decision date, following submissions from parties during online proceedings earlier this morning.
“The court fixes Aug 30 at 2.30pm to deliver its judgment,” Liew said.
Counsel Simon Siah and Clarice Chan appeared for the five youths, while senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan and Azizan Md Arshad appeared for the three respondents in the matter.
The three respondents are Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the Election Commission (EC) and the government.
Through the legal action filed on May 3, the five youths seek to compel the federal administration to implement the 2019 constitutional amendment to lower the voting age nationwide by July this year.
Previously, Undi Sarawak contended that delays to the implementation of lowering the voting age would deny the rights of more than 125,000 Sarawakian youths to vote in the state election.
“We also take note of the most recent statement made by (de facto law minister) Takiyuddin Hassan on April 29, as well as his subsequent remarks on May 2 regarding the implementation of the Undi18 bill.
On March 25, the EC announced the postponement of the implementation of Undi18, including automatic voter registration, to Sept 1 next year.
The decision means that youths aged 18 to 20 will likely not be able to vote in the next general election.
Following this, a group of 18 Malaysian youths, representing the Undi18 movement, filed a judicial review on April 2, against the premier, the government, and the EC. This legal action is before the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
At present, there are two similar legal challenges (one before the Kuala Lumpur High Court and the other before the Kuching High Court) to compel the Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal government to implement the constitutional amendment to lower the voting age.
The amendment to article 119 of the Federal Constitution was passed during the Pakatan Harapan administration two years ago.
In relation to the judicial review by the five Sarawak youths, the Kuching High Court on May 28 granted leave to them to proceed with the judicial review.
Since then, including today, the Sarawak court has been hearing arguments by both sides over the merits of the judicial review proper.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.