Nga, who is contesting the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat, said some youths had voiced their intention not to vote in GE15 as they were deterred by having to queue up under the hot sun at polling stations.

“Young people, do you queue up to buy Tealive or Starbucks, paying money to these businesses? So why are you not going to queue up and vote when it’s free?” he said, according to China Press.

He said all they had to do at the polls was to mark their candidate of choice. They did not have to first register as a voter like before, thanks to the automatic registration for all Malaysians aged 18 and above.

Nga added that there were still many who approached him to ask how to register as a voter. He said this in a speech at a DAP fundraising dinner in Sungai Siput, Perak last night.

The DAP deputy chairman is defending the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat which he first won in 2018.

He is in a four-cornered fight against T Murugiah of Barisan Nasional, Zainol Fadzi Paharudin (Perikatan Nasional) and Amir Khusyairi (Pejuang).

He previously served as the Taiping MP for two terms, from 2008 to 2018.

GE15 will be the first general election where Malaysians aged 18 to 20 get to cast their ballots, after the Undi18 constitutional amendments were enforced last December.

The Johor state elections in March were the first polls in which voters aged 18 to 20 had cast their ballots.