Undi18 co-founder Qyira Yusri told FMT the reasons given by the Election Commission (EC) to delay the implementation of the policies to lower the voting age and have automatic voter registration were “unacceptable and ridiculous”.

“During the peak of Covid-19 last November, law minister Takiyuddin Hassan confirmed that automatic voter registration of 18-year-olds was on track to be implemented by July 2021,” she said.

“It makes no sense that the EC is now talking about delays and the challenges it is facing, after almost a year and a half into the pandemic,” she added.

In a statement earlier today, EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh said the automatic registration of 18-year-olds as voters was expected to be delayed until after September 2022.

He said the movement restrictions due to the pandemic had disrupted the EC’s preparations to implement the act which was passed in Parliament in July 2019.

Meanwhile, election reform group Bersih 2.0 said the delay was “most disappointing” to the millions of young voters who were looking forward to vote for the first time.

“Although the reason given was the movement restrictions, we cannot understand how this can delay the implementation of Undi18, as much of the work is data processing,” said the NGO’s chairman Thomas Fann.

He said the EC must explain in detail why the implementation required more than three years.

“Failure to do so will only fuel public suspicion that the EC is deliberately delaying Undi18 at the behest of the ruling party,” he said.

Meanwhile, political party MUDA also said it would be challenging the EC decision to delay Undi18.

“This excuse does not make sense and makes fools of the rakyat,” it said through lawyer Lim Wei Jit.