One Malaysian who wished to be known as Ong in the UK said his vote would only be received by the Election Commission by May 8.

The EC has said the deadline for overseas postal ballots is 5pm on May 9.

Another voter, Li Ping, based in the Swiss city of Lucerne, said she made 15 phone calls to the EC only to find that her ballot paper would arrive on polling day itself.

“My ballot paper has just taken off from Kuala Lumpur and will only reach me by the end of May 9,” she said.

She said she would still post it to the returning officer to complete the process and report the matter to the Global Bersih electoral monitoring group.

A school teacher based in Pasir Gudang who declined to be named said she and her colleagues, based in Malaysia, had yet to receive their ballot papers although they had submitted their applications well in time.

“Some friends in the UK will only receive theirs on May 8. How are the papers going to make it back (to EC) by May 9?” she told FMT. Another voter only identified as Raj, also expected to receive his paper on May 9.

Jean, a postal voter in the Klang Valley, questioned why ballot papers were sent late after nomination took place on April 28. “Even within the Klang Valley it takes so long. I can’t imagine the hassle postal voters based abroad have to undergo,” she said.

“It looks like we are going to lose a lot of postal voters this time around,” she added.

The EC had earlier said the ballot papers would be sent to overseas voters after nominations closed on April 28 and must be returned by 5pm on polling day.

However, Bersih said the schedule meant only four working days available, May 3-4 and May 7-8, for the papers to be sent and received.

EC had stated that ballot papers will only be mailed out on May 2, as May 1 is a public holiday.