Review of Electoral Reform Since GE14 and the Way Forward
On 9th May 2020, Global Bersih together with Bersih 2.0 and Kofi Annan Foundation co-organized an online webinar session titled “Review of Electoral Reform Since GE14 and the Way Forward”. The online webinar aimed at taking stock of the progress of electoral reform in the past 2 years since the 14th General Election, and to explore the way forward for electoral reform under the Perikatan Nasional government
The panelists for this online webinar were:
- Dr Azmi Sharom – Deputy Chairman of the Election Commission of Malaysia
- Professor Dr Chin Huat – political scientist and member of Bersih 2.0’s steering committee
- Ann Teo – President of Rise of Social Efforts (ROSE)
- Alan Doss – President of Kofi Annan Foundation
The online webinar was moderated by Mr Thomas Fann, chairperson of Bersih 2.0.
There some interested takeaways from the webinar session, which are listed below:
- Lowering of voting age to 18 will be implemented at least by June 2021.
- The Election Commission is being praised for being more open to engagement by the civil society groups.
- Recall election needs to be pushed as a solution to party-hopping that paved way to the formation of an unelected government led by Perikatan Nasional.
- It is important for the Opposition for create a shadow cabinet to scrutinize the policies and actions of the government, as well as to offer alternative policies
- There is a need for fair allocation of constituency development funding for all elected representative regardless of political affiliation to avoid political patronage and clientelism.
- Out of constituency voting option must be made available for voters who will not be able to travel back home to their registered constituency to cast their ballot paper.
- To make voting processes easier during polling day, the EC is working on creating more voting streams that are more convenient for elderly and disabled voters.