KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — The government must follow through with action on its promise for automatic voter registration and letting 18-year-old qualify as election candidates to win the Opposition bloc’s support to lower the voting age from 21, PAS lawmaker Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said today.
The Islamist party’s secretary-general insisted that until the three conditions are tabled in Dewan Rakyat, the Opposition parties will not agree to vote for the Bill to lower the voting age to 18.
“If the conditions are amended into the Constitution [then we will vote]. We do not want a mere promise saying that the amendment will be done,” he told reporters in the Parliament lobby here.
Takiyuddin was responding to the Pakatan Harapan presidential council’s agreement yesterday to include the Opposition’s proposal for 18-year-olds to be registered as voters automatically in its Bill to amend the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age.
The Kota Baru MP said the existing Bill does not have to be withdrawn for the demands to be retabled as he said the amendment can be tendered before July 16, which is when the voting is set.
He added that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will hold a briefing with lawmakers on the voter and election candidacy amendments.
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the ruling party had reached a consensus on all three constitutional amendments to be made on the Bill dubbed the “Undi 18” Bill, which includes automatic voter registration and reducing the age of candidacy to 18.
Last week, Syed Saddiq tabled an amendment to the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.
The Bill cleared the first reading and will proceed with the second and third reading this sitting.
