No postponement for Johor PKR polls, says party’s state chief

JOHOR BARU, Sept 24 — Johor PKR’s election will continue as planned end of this month despite problems with the party’s newly introduced electronic-voting (e-voting) system last weekend.

Johor PKR chairman Hassan Abdul Karim said e-voting for eligible members will go on as scheduled on September 30 as he has not been notified of any changes by the party’s Central Election Committee (JPP).

“We must understand that PKR has many members nationwide and the e-voting system makes it much easier and simpler instead of reverting back to the traditional paper ballots, which is time consuming,” he said when met at on the sidelines of an event here.

Despite the chaos at the start of PKR’s party elections in Kedah and Penang last Saturday, Hassan believed that the e-voting system still had its advantages.

“The e-voting system is still new and of course there might be some initial issues, but I urge PKR members to be patient,” he said, adding that if the e-voting system was a success, the country may adopt a similar system for future polls.

On Johor PKR’s preparations come September 30, Hassan said he had advised several party divisions to contact the police for security to avoid any untoward incidents.

He said his advice to Johor party members was to maintain a sense of discipline and avoid conflicts that can spark confrontations.

“PKR members must understand that we are the biggest party in terms of numbers representing the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, with a total of 56 parliamentary seats,” said Hassan.

The PKR polls have been put on hold till September 30 to resolve technical issues related to its e-voting system.

The PKR election in Kedah was cancelled after only six out of 15 divisions in the state were able to carry out the polling process on Saturday, but the Penang election carried on, albeit with minor incidents.

Meanwhile, PKR elections in Perlis and Perak which should have taken place yesterday, had to be postponed to enable the committee to overcome any problems arising in the electoral process including the e-voting system.