Bersih calls on EC to assist Covid-19 positive voters
JOHOR POLLS | Electoral reforms coalition Bersih has called on the government to reconsider standard operating procedures that currently prevents individuals who tested positive for Covid-19 from casting their ballot on polling day.
Similarly, Bersih said persons under surveillance and patients under investigation could also risk being prevented from voting if denied permission to leave their house by their nearest district health office.
JOHOR POLLS | Electoral reforms coalition Bersih has called on the government to reconsider standard operating procedures that currently prevents individuals who tested positive for Covid-19 from casting their ballot on polling day.
Similarly, Bersih said persons under surveillance and patients under investigation could also risk being prevented from voting if denied permission to leave their house by their nearest district health office.
"Permission to vote or to abstain is not the jurisdiction of the health office or police to decide because they already have a constitutional right to vote," said the Bersih steering committee in a statement today.
"The Election Commission as the body with powers to run the elections should have created the best mechanism for voters to exercise their rights, rather than prevent voters from carrying out their duties," said Bersih.
The EC yesterday announced that PUI and PUS must also use their own transport to travel to the polling centre and are forbidden from taking public transportation.
The special voting area will be sanitised each time it is used.
For voters in any areas under enhanced Covid-19 restrictions, Bersih suggested that showing a negative RTK test would be enough to allow them to vote, rather than the current rule that prior permission was required to leave their house.
Meanwhile, Bersih also welcomed relaxed rules for physical campaigns in the upcoming Johor polls, describing it as a move towards helping voters make informed choices about all contesting candidates.
At the same time, Bersih urged EC to reconsider its ruling that ceramah can only be held at political party offices and their official operations rooms and instead issue permission for socially distanced open-air gatherings.
"Bersih would like to urge all Johor voters to come out and vote in this state election.
"Voting is a right and duty of all citizens to elect representatives who will steer Johor," it said.
Polling day for the Johor state election falls on March 12.
The nomination day is set for Feb 26, with a campaigning period of 14 days.
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