IT’S HERE: Abdul Aziz showing returning officers and reporters a map of Sarawak during the press conference.
The Election Commission in a meeting in Kuching yesterday set April 6 for nomination
KUCHING: Polling for the 10th Sarawak election will be held on April 16, while nomination will be on
April 6.
Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof announced the dates after chairing an EC meeting here yesterday.
He told a press conference that the EC received the official notification concerning the dissolution of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) from the Yang di-Pertua Negeri on March 21.
Abdul Aziz said 71 returning officers (ROs) and 165 assistant returning officers (AROs) would be appointed to
assist the EC conduct the election.
“For the purpose of monitoring all campaigning activities, the EC has decided to establish 80 Election Campaign Enforcement Teams (ECET), and each will be headed by a chief enforcement officer.”
There would be 24,379 election officers and staff, 1,749 polling centres and 2,606 polling stations (streams).
“Our budget to conduct this election is estimated at RM50 million,” said Abdul Aziz.
He added that the Principal Electoral Roll 2009 and Supplementary Roll (for the four quarters of 2010), which would be gazetted tomorrow, would be used in this election.
The electoral roll has a total of 979,796 registered voters, comprising 961,433 ordinary voters and 18,363 postal voters.
Abdul Aziz said the electoral roll would be put on sale the latest by March 28. Voters could also look up for information concerning polling centres and voting streams at http://www.spr.gov.my or through the short messaging service (SMS) by typing SPR <space>SEMAK<space>My Kad No. and send to 15888 from March 28 onwards.
Information could also be obtained by calling EC headquarters in Putrajaya at 03-88856500 or the Sarawak Election Office at 082-254867.
“Political parties, candidates, staff and party supporters, as well as any individuals involved in campaign-related activities, must comply with existing laws and regulations. This also applies to the Code of Ethics as prescribed by the EC.
“The EC would like to remind all contesting candidates and parties regarding election offences under the Election Offences Act 1954 (Act 5). Part III of Act 5 lists all corruption activities, whereby if someone is convicted of such offence he may be fined and imprisoned in accordance with the law,” he pointed out.
“The offences under Part III of Act 5 are prescribed offences under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (MACC) which has the power to investigate in accordance with the laws,” he pointed out.
Abdul Aziz revealed that the MACC would be monitoring the election closely to ensure that everyone toe the line.