Global Bersih secretary-general Nirmala Devi Windgaetter said Malaysians abroad only had two-and-a-half months to register as overseas voters in GE14.

She said this had put pressure on EC staff to process their applications and on voters to apply within the limited timeframe.

“With the increase in the number of voters due to Undi18 and the automatic registration of voters, how will the EC manage the applications in the same short period of time for GE15?” she said at a press conference.

Nirmala also suggested allowing non-Malaysians to sign off as witnesses on postal ballot documents.

Acknowledging the need for verification of ballot papers from abroad, she said many who had tried to vote during GE14 had difficulty looking for Malaysians to be their witnesses.

She also called for the election campaign period to be extended to between 21 and 25 days to allow more time for postal ballots to be sent overseas and returned to the local polling stations.

“We did a small exercise of sending letters to the US and Europe, and it took about 18 days for a letter from those countries to arrive in cities like Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

“The suggestion of 21 to 25 days is already cutting it short,” she said.

Last year, it was reported that ballot papers for the Melaka and Sarawak state elections were late in reaching overseas voters and could not be sent back and counted in time.

Bersih had called for a revamp of the overseas postal voting system on numerous occasions in the past.

Bersih chief Thomas Fann said the EC might be “afraid” about changing the system as it would be held responsible if any issues arose.

He suggested that the EC carry out the proposed changes in stages or in a pilot project.

“For example, they can test it out during a state election or a by-election where the number of voters is a lot smaller,” he said.