EC to brief election workers
By Peter Sibon and Wilfred Pilo, Borneo Post
KUCHING: The Election Commission (EC) will conduct a series of briefings throughout the state for 23,000 workers from March 21 to 29 in preparation for the upcoming state election, said state EC director Datu Takun Sunggah.
“It’s a normal briefing for all our workers to prepare them well for the coming state election,” Takun told a press conference at his office in Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here yesterday.
He said the EC had identified all the 71 returning officers (RO) for the 71 state constituencies and their assistants.
Takun revealed the expenditure of the RM45 million-budget allocated
for the EC would include the chartering of 25 helicopters, 4000 units of four-wheel drive vehicles and 1,000 longboats.
“The bulk of the allocation or about 60 per cent of the budget will normally go to the transport and logistics as Sarawak is a huge state and in some cases, the polling centres could only be reached by helicopters,” he explained.
As for the electoral rolls, Takun said they would be ready by the end of the month as EC was finalising them.
“We have to check our lists of voters with the National Registration Department to weed up voters who have passed away and include the names of newly registered voters who are eligible to vote in the coming state election.”
On a related issue, he revealed that the election deposit for each candidate was RM5000 and another RM3000 for posters permit.
“Any candidate who can secure 12.5 per cent of the total cast votes is eligible to claim back their RM5000 deposits.
“As for the poster permit, the candidates have to clean up their campaign materials within 14 days after polling, failing which their deposit of RM3000 will be forfeited as the EC will use it to pay the local councils to clean them up,” he explained.
On postal votes, Takun disclosed that those eligible would be the security personnel and their spouses and the EC workers.
Meanwhile, Takun said the EC would leave the security measures to the police to handle.
“It is up to them to decide the number of personnel to be stationed in each polling centre,” he added.
