KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — The Education Ministry’s refusal to let schools in Johor be used as voting stations in the March 12 state election is unconstitutional, according to former Election Commision (EC) deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.
Wan Ahmad said that Article 115 (1) and (2) of the Federal Constitution clearly states that all government agencies, ministries or departments must provide assistance to the EC to ensure that elections run smoothly, Utusan Malaysia reported today.
“Other than being in conflict with the Constitution, MoE’s decision is not fair to the EC, because if this is not discussed again, it will definitely bring a lot of problems to the EC’s launch of the voting process come March 12.
“This is because the Johor state election involves more than 2.5 million voters and they will be going out to vote on only that one date,” he reportedly said.
According to Wan Ahmad, MoE’s decision to disallow schools to be used as voting stations — on the basis that the polls will disturb the SPM examinations — is unprecedented.
The former official claimed the EC has already printed out the lists of voting stations in Johor, including the respective voter distribution, and a change to this would create a lot of difficulties involving location safety, dissemination of ballots and ballot boxes, as well as public order.
He was also quoted as saying that he did not believe the usage of several rooms for the election process would disturb the examinations.
The dates for this year’s SPM written examinations are scheduled for March 2 to 29. MoE had set them in early December last year.
In his refusal to allow the EC to use schools, Senior Education Minister Datuk Radzi Jidin said last Sunday that almost all rooms in schools are used for the SPM examination, and that the election would throw preparations for the exam into disarray.
The EC announced the dates for the Johor state election last Wednesday. Polling day is on March 12 with early voting on March 8. Nomination day is on February 26.
