PERMATANG PAUH, April 26 — Prison inmates have no right to vote, said Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The home minister said as far as he knows, those in prison could not vote but he would leave it to the Election Commission (EC) to look for clauses that will allow inmates to vote.

“Maybe the EC can look into clauses for inmates to be given the ability to vote,” he told reporters.

He was responding to PKR’s suggestion that the home ministry launch a pilot mechanism to allow prison inmates to vote by allowing its de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to come back to vote in the Permatang Pauh by-election.

Zahid said if there is a clause that allows inmates to vote, the EC will provide ballot papers to be sent to the Sungai Buloh prison.

He added that he would leave it to the EC to look into a clause to do that.

Earlier today, PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar suggested that Zahid use this by-election as a pilot project to allow prisoners, including Anwar, to vote.

She said the home minister had proposed that the EC and the police come up with a mechanism to allow prisoners to vote about a year ago.