Not suitable to hold election during flood season - Former EC Chairman

SHAH ALAM - The General Election is not suitable to be held during the flood season because it can potentially affect the percentage of voters present and the election process itself.

Former Election Commission (EC) Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the implementation of elections during the flood season would impact logistics, expenses and voters’ participation rates.

Abdul Aziz.

He said this based on experience gained when he managed the bi-election at the 2011 State Assembly when the area experienced floods.

"My experience in Tenang State Assembly, Labis in Johor was when I asked for assistance (to transport voters to voting place) and it was tricky since we needed to use bigger trucks to transport the voters as cars could not go through.

"The percentage of voters would surely be affected and this is an election involving the whole country.

"The expenditure would be increased not only for EC but other departments involved would be similarly affected," he told Sinar Harian on Monday.

Aziz explained that such a situation had made it complicated for EC officers, including the management of the boxes from the voting centre to the tally centre.

"They had to take boat rides and police trucks through the areas, which creates inconvenience not only for voters, but officers, EC staff and safety officers as well as officers from other department," he said.

On Sept 2, Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) predicted the country would face heavy rains continuously from middle of November possibly bringing floods at the end of that month.

Aziz said the weather factors were taken into account by EC in setting the election dates other than factors to avoid any clash with any Malaysian festive or social day.

"To ensure the dates chosen were suitable and easy for voters anywhere to go vote," he said.

Meanwhile, Former EC Deputy Chairman Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Wan Omar also believed that elections should not be held during the monsoon season.

Wan Ahmad.

He said if GE15 was held during the flood season, it would be a problem to ensure a smooth election process.

"If there is a massive flood and hours of rainfall as the monsoon season in Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Sarawak as well as Johor, we know voters would not be able to go vote and the EC would have difficulties sending staff.

"So why would we make the issue that we know would ruin the election management process," he said.

Wan Ahmad said if the Parliament was dissolved this year, the EC was expected to have a short window in preparation for the elections, taking into account the monsoon season starting December this year.

He said the earliest date that the EC could have the election was a month after the dissolution of Parliament and it involved the document issuance to elect EC officers, campaign durations until the voting day.

He said the EC had its standard operating procedure (SOP) actions to deal with possible flooding in a polling area.

"For example, if a school building is used for voting had sunk and voters could not be present or the centre could not be prepared, the EC has the power to delay votes in the area," he said.