Azhar, who was speaking at a forum on political financing, said automatic voter registration was “on the cards”, when asked by a participant.
“But it is not as simple as the National Registration Department informing us that so-and-so is 21 years old today and we can automatically register them as a voter,” he said at the forum organised by Transparency International Malaysia.
Azhar said this was because the Federal Constitution allows a person to vote where they were first registered as a voter although they might now live elsewhere.
“That is our constitutional right. If we do automatic registration, then that has to be changed because then you vote where your identity card says you live.”
This, he said, might see a greater concentration of seats in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, an underlying issue that needs to be addressed.
He added that the process would take time but said the EC would try to come up with a fair and equitable solution.
It was previously reported that most of the political parties from both sides of the divide had agreed to automatic voter registration following a closed-door meeting between the EC and over 30 political parties on issues of voter registration.