Melaka goes to polls on Nov 20

The state election in Melaka will be held on Nov 20, the first time that Malaysians head to the poll booth since the Sabah election in September last year.

According to the Election Commission, nomination will be held on Nov 8 while early voting will begin on Nov 18.

The campaign period will run for 12 days from Nov 8 to Nov 19.

The election is expected to require an allocation of RM46 million.

“The EC held a special meeting today where it was decided that an election should be conducted within 60 days of the date of dissolution of the state legislative assembly on Oct 5, to fill the 28 vacated seats,” EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh said in a statement.

He said 28 returning officers have been appointed, to be aided by 80 assistant managing officers.

Twenty-eight teams comprising police personnel, representatives from the local authorities and representatives of the contesting candidates will also be formed to monitor all election campaign activities throughout the period.

Meanwhile, 28 nomination centres and 28 tallying centres will be utilised for the election.

A total of 12,290 officers will be appointed to facilitate the election which will see 217 regular polling centres with 1,109 polling booths/streams and 31 centres for early voting with 47 polling booths/streams.

The regular polling centres will be opened from 8am to 5.30pm on the election day itself while for early voting, 21 centres will be opened from 8am to 2pm and the remaining 10 from 8am to 5.30pm.

A total of 495,196 people are eligible to vote in the Melaka election, comprising 482,550 regular voters, 10,191 military voters and their spouses, 2,349 police personnel and 106 overseas voters.

Ghani also listed several improvements to be made to the voting process including:

1. The preparation of special voting streams for those aged 60 and above;

2. A 30-minute extension of voting time from 8am to 5.30pm compared to 8am to 5pm previously; and

3. A designated stream for special needs voters, who number 12,712.

The Sabah election last year had been blamed for a surge in Covid-19 cases throughout the country due to large gatherings and cross-border travel.

Elections were subsequently suspended under the state of emergency declared in January this year, which ended in August.

Sarawak, which is under a separate state of emergency expiring in February next year, is also overdue for an election.