High Court says no to overseas ‘absent voters’
(The Malaysian Insider) – The KL High Court dismissed today the application of six Malaysians residing in Britain to be registered as absent voters in the next general election.
The six are Dr Teo Hoon Seong, electrical engineer V. Vinesh, entrepreneur Paramjeet Singh, Dr Yolanda Sydney Augustin, translator Sim Tze Wei and software architect Leong See See.
Their lawyer Edmund Bon submitted that the Election Commission had acted illegally and irrationally when it rejected the application of the six, and also failed to give any reason or basis to justify their exclusion.
The EC’s regulations define an “absent voter” only as citizens who are members of the armed forces, public servants, full-time students, or their spouses, and thus allowed to cast postal votes.
Article 119 of the Federal Constitution, however, broadly defines “absent voters” as voters so long as they are citizens above 21 years of age, and are registered as electors for their respective constituencies.
