KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — The Health Ministry has today recommended against holding any form of an elections as the country is still battling with a serious number of Covid-19 cases.
Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there is concern that there could be another increase in Covid-19 cases if an election is held now, when the third wave just hit following the Sabah state election.
“Our recommendation is not to have an election. But if we must have one, maybe we can look into different ways of carrying out the election, such as no cross-border or cross-district travel, no gatherings and no house-to-house visits.
“We have learned this from Sabah. and we hope we do not repeat similar consequences of the election in other states.
“We will discuss all this with the Election Commission (EC) and also over the possibility of using postal votes as well,” he said during a press conference today.
He also said that if any type of election needs to be held, a new stricter standard operating procedure (SOP) must be looked into and introduced.
The Sarawak state election must be held before August 2021 but there has been plenty of speculation that the state government might decide to call for polls sooner.
The Batu Sapi by-election, which was triggered by the death of incumbent Datuk Seri Liew Vui Keong, is scheduled for a December 5 polling day. Nomination has been set for November 23.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had admitted that the campaigning for the recent Sabah state election was among the probable causes of the recent Covid-19 spike.
Muhyiddin said the Election Commission had outlined standard operating procedures for campaigning, but lamented that some failed to obey them.
