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VOTING MARK: Election Commission employees showing how voters' fingernails will be marked with indelible ink in the next general election. The ink cannot be cleaned off for about two weeks. -- PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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PUTRAJAYA - MALAYSIA will use indelible ink for the first time in the upcoming general election, with the mark to be made on the fingernail of the voter's left forefinger.
Once marked, the made-in-India black ink cannot be removed from the finger for about two weeks, the Election Commission said on Thursday.
The move will ensure that people cannot vote more than once in different constituencies.
A small mark will be painted on the voter's forefinger by a polling clerk when a person registers to vote on polling day.
The government will order 48,000 bottles of the black ink from India, at a cost of RM2.4 million (S$1 million), the moment the election date is announced. There are widespread expectations that the elections will be held next month.
The indelible ink is the government's answer to the opposition parties which claimed that they have lost seats due to 'phantom voters' - people from outside a constituency who use the identity cards of others to cast ballots.
The practice is possible because voting is not compulsory in Malaysia and not everyone is a registered voter.
The Election Commission will also introduce transparent ballot boxes for the first time in the coming elections, after opposition parties claimed that some ballot boxes were stuffed with pro-government ballot papers.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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