By Nasuha Badrul Huzaini
SHAH ALAM, Jan 24 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) has urged the Election Commission (EC) to allow physical election campaigns to be held under strict adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOPs) for the upcoming Johor state polls.
A statement issued by the PH presidential council today said the election body has to revise the SOPs for the state election by allowing activities related to the election campaigns to be held safely, such as holding political talks and house-to-house visits to distribute flyers.
The council had also asked for the campaigning period to be extended to at least 21 days and that there would be fair media access to all parties by giving equal air time on broadcasting channels and print publications, both online and print media.
“We also want the EC to be actively mobilised at the Malaysian embassies in Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and other countries to ensure the postal voting could be carried out correctly.
“These requests are made after taking into consideration the current Covid-19 development, including the stable number of hospital admission, the vaccination rate, which has reached more than 80 per cent for the second dose, and the booster dose rate of over 30 per cent,” the statement read.
The statement was jointly signed by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) president Mohamad Sabu, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation president Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau.
Meanwhile, the PH presidential council is determined to embrace the Opposition’s and the publics’ strength to win the 15th Johor state polls.
“The effort is not only to win back the people’s mandate that we gained in the last 14th General Election, but we are also aiming to form a more stable state government for the future of the state,” it said.
