The election process

 Lisa J. Ariffin
19 April 2013

PETALING JAYA: Tomorrow is nomination day for what some have called the most awaited general election in Malaysian history.

Here is a brief description of the processes that must take place between the dissolution of Parliament and polling day, which is May 5 in the case of the 13th general election.

Writ and notice of election

As soon as Parliament is dissolved, the Election Commission (EC) issues a writ to the returning officers of the various constituencies authorising them to conduct elections in their respective areas.
At the same time, a notice of election is posted in various places for public viewing. This notice contains the nomination date and the dates for early voting and regular voting.

Nomination

A date is also set for candidates to present nomination papers to their respective returning officers. In the case of GE13, they must do so between 9am and 10am tomorrow.
Every candidate must pay a deposit of RM10,000 for a parliamentary seat or RM5,000 for a state seat. The deposit is confiscated if a candidate fails to garner one eighth of the total number of votes cast in the constituency he is contesting.

The returning officers must ensure that nomination forms are complete and that candidates are eligible to contest. A candidate is disqualified if he is a bankrupt, is of unsound mind or is not a citizen of Malaysia. If only one candidate is eligible to contest in a constituency, the returning officer will announce his uncontested win.

For the first time in Malaysian history, there is no grace period for candidates to object to the candidacy of their rivals on the ground of their failure to fulfil eligibility criteria. Objections must be raised during the nomination process.

The EC also forbids any candidate from withdrawing from his contest once his nomination is accepted. Previously, candidates were allowed to pull out from contesting within three days after nomination day.
The returning officer will announce the names of the eligible candidates after 10am.

Campaign period

The campaigning period begins as soon as the nomination process is complete and ends at midnight before polling day. A candidate for Parliament may spend a maximum of RM200,000 on campaigning and a state assembly candidates is allowed up to M100,000.

A task force set up by the EC will monitor the conduct of campaigns to ensure that candidates comply with the rules. It can, for instance, remove campaign materials that do not comply with the law and stop illegal forums with police help.

Polling

A date for advance polling has been introduced for GE13. Police and military personnel will cast their ballots on April 30 at their stations or camps before 7pm. The ballot boxes will be locked away in secure locations until the regular polling day, when they will be tallied with the regular votes.

On May 5, voting will begin at 8am.
The EC officer handing out ballot papers will first check a voter’s identity card against the list of registered voters at the station and then examine the index finger of his left hand to ensure that it has not been marked by indelible ink.

A second officer will then mark the voters’ left index finger. A third officer will tick off the voter’s name on his list and hand him his ballot papers – one for him to choose his member of parliament and the other for him to elect his state assembly representative.

The voter will proceed to the voting booth, make his choices and then deposit the ballots in the appropriate boxes. The entire process will be observed by election officials and the agents of contesting candidates.
The polling centres will close at 5pm.

Ballot counting

Once polling closes, the presiding officer will tally the ballots. He will ensure that the number of ballot papers received by the station at the beginning of the day equals the sum of papers given to voters and the number unused.

Ballots with ambiguous and unclear markings will be set aside. After the other votes are counted, the officers will go through the ambiguous votes to determine if they can be accepted. Forms showing the tally of ballots will be brought to the vote-tallying centre, where the returning officer will announce the result for each polling station.


Announcement of results

The returning officer for each constituency will declare the winner.
Any candidate who is not satisfied with the announced result can make a petition with Election Court.