The 15th General Election (GE15) in Malaysia has recently been announced by the Election Commission of Malaysia (SPR). There are many new procedures that SPR introduces to the voters, especially the voters that live overseas.
For sure, some people may have heard of the latest additional procedures for voting, and some people don’t. When SPR announced the election, they also said that you can vote earlier and vote using post, but did you know that there is actually a reason why they do that?
For your information, early voting and postal voting are different and not the same. The differences are:
Early voting
An early vote is especially for police, military, Pasukan Gerakan AM (PGA) and their spouses.
Postal voting
As for the postal vote, it’s for SPR members, media officers, election officers who assist the SPR members, and police and soldiers who cannot early (Category 1A)
So, who else is eligible for a postal vote? There are two categories: Category 1B and Category 1C. Category 1B is for Malaysian citizens residing abroad and eligible to vote.
While Category 1C is for members of 9 government agencies in the health and safety sector.
Who are the members of the 9 government agencies who are eligible to postal vote? Now, let’s get to know them. The 9 members are:
- Firefighters
- Maritime
- Department of Prisons
- Health Department
- Immigration Department
- Civil Defense Force
- National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA)
- National Registration Department
- TNB
However, the members are only eligible for postal voting if they are on duty on the normal voting day.
Well, how about the media officials? They will be busy covering the election journey, right? For your information, media officials who cover the election journey can request for postal voting. However, they must apply through their employer.
Moreover, election officers are also eligible to vote by post. Apart from SPR members and officers, other election officers who assist the SPR members and officials can also vote by post.
Unfortunately, Sabah and Sarawak students who are eligible to vote but live in other states cannot request postal voting. In fact, they must go back to Sabah and Sarawak to vote according to the address registered.
Source: Twitter @kamarul14
