KOTA KINABALU, Oct 22 — The Election Commission (EC) and the National Registration Department (NRD) have been asked to provide an explanation regarding the dubious surge of new voters in Sabah, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
He said the matter had been discussed in the Sabah Cabinet meeting on Wednesday (Oct 19), and EC and NRD had been asked to give an explanation next Tuesday (Oct 25).
“There is something doubtful to us and it has been discussed at the state cabinet level…the surge of new voters, mostly registered as Malays in the EC’s latest electoral roll may not be from this state or the Peninsula.
“This cannot be taken lightly. Others will come to our area later. We don’t want people to get power from the ballot box in this way, that’s why we made a report with the relevant parties,” he said in a statement today.
Earlier the media reported a sudden increase in voters in Sabah from 1,064,686 people during GE14 in 2018 to 1,638,806 people this year for the 15th general election (GE15).
Meanwhile, Hajiji announced that the state government will release some land in the Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) area to be used as a village reserve for the people.
“We will remove the land to ensure that our people who live in the SFI area get an official village site for their children,” he said.
