KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — Polls reform group Bersih 2.0 will elect five individuals to its steering committee this November 30, with current member Maria Chin Abdullah poised to head the 90-member coalition.

Although the three-man Election Committee for the Bersih 2.0 polls declined to declare Maria as the new chairperson today, the activist is the sole nominee for the position currently held jointly by prominent lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and national laureate A. Samad Said.

“As soon as the nominee accepts the nomination, we will deem her position as valid... So we will still let the election process go through and at the end of the election, we will make an announcement,” election committee member Stanley Yong told reporters today.

“The steering committee have decided that the official announcement will be made on November 30,” the secretary-general of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) said, also confirming that this was the first polls in the six-year-old Bersih 2.0’s history.

Bersih 2.0’s member groups will decide between Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa and Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh for the vice-chair position, while either Masjaliza Hamzah and Nahar Md Nor will be the new treasurer.

Five nominees — K. Arumugam, Ng Chak Ngoon, Farhana Halim, Hishamuddin Rais and New Sin Yew — will contend for two posts with portfolios in the steering committee.

All five elected members will replace the current members on November 30 and take up their duties for two years.

When asked why only 16 organisations had sent in nomination forms, Bersih 2.0 communications officer Yasmin Masidi noted that “ample time” from October 23 to November 8 was given with the member groups also being alerted through phone calls, emails and meetings.

Postal ballots will be mailed out today to groups who are unable to send representatives to vote due to financial constraints, especially those in East Malaysia, with the votes to be returned before polling day.

When asked if the Bersih 2.0 steering committee was now being scaled down to just five members, Yasmin said that it would have 11 members after all the elections are carried out.

Six more members will be elected at regional-level polls to represent six regions in Malaysia, Yasmin said.