Prison inmates have no right to vote: Zahid
Published on: Monday, April 27, 2015
Penang: Prison inmates have no right to vote, said Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.The Home Minister said as far as he knows, those in prison could not vote but he would leave it to the Election Commission (EC) to look for clauses that will allow inmates to vote. "Maybe the EC can look into clauses for inmates to be given the ability to vote," he told reporters.
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He was responding to PKR's suggestion that the Home Ministry launch a pilot mechanism to allow prison inmates to vote by allowing its de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to come back to vote in the Permatang Pauh by- election. Zahid said if there is a clause that allows inmates to vote, the EC will provide ballot papers to be sent to the Sungai Buloh prison. He added that he would leave it to the EC to look into a clause to do that. Earlier Sunday, PKR's Nurul Izzah Anwar suggested that Zahid use this by-election as a pilot project to allow prisoners, including Anwar, to vote.
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She said the Home Minister had proposed that the EC and the police come up with a mechanism to allow prisoners to vote about a year ago. Meanwhile, Zahid warned the Barisan Nasional (BN) by-election machinery here not to start any provocation during the campaign period.
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He told the BN machinery not to start or respond to any provocation by their political opponents."We want a decent and proper campaign free of any acts of provocation," he said in a brief press conference here.The Home Minister also hoped that no "outsiders" would interfere in the campaign with the intention of creating havoc throughout the campaign. Earlier, he said the police had informed him that there were no reports of any violence or incidents related to the by-election in the constituency so far. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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