More than four million Malaysians who qualify to register as voters have not done so, according to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman Said.

"The total number of Malaysians aged 21 and above who qualify to register as voters but have not registered as a voter based on the electoral roll for the third quarter of 2016 numbered 4,060,339 people," she said in a parliamentary written reply.

Azalina was responding to a question from PKR's Gopeng MP Lee Boon Chye.

Despite the large numbers of unregistered voters, the Election Commission (EC) has refused to implement automatic voter registration.

EC chief Mohd Hashim Abdullah had said that there would be problems if a new system was implemented and the commission did not want to be blamed for them.

However, electoral reform group Bersih criticised the EC for abdicating its duties.

The opposition had also accused the EC of frustrating their efforts to register new voters.