43% voter turnout as of 1pm despite uncertain weather

Some 43% of voters in the Melaka state election had turned up to exercise their right to vote as of 1pm today, despite the cloudy weather and drizzle reported in some areas.

The voting process is being held in strict compliance with the SOPs set by the Election Commission (EC) to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Voters began queuing as early as 7.30am although polling stations only opened at 8am.

So far, no SOP violations have been reported.

To ensure the safety of voters and election offocials, and as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the virus, the halls and schools being used as polling centres are sanitised at regular intervals.

EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh also went down to the ground to observe the voting process at several locations and ensure that things run smoothly.

Contesting candidates also took advantages of the fairly fine morning weather to cast their votes early, to avoid worsening weather conditions in the afternoon.

According to the Malaysian Meteorological Department, the weather in the morning is forecast to be clear in Melaka Tengah, Jasin and Alor Gajah districts with thunderstorms in the afternoon in all areas.

Among the candidates who went to cast their votes early were the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidates for the Tanjung Bidara seat, Ab Rauf Yusoh and Mas Ermieyati Samsudin; Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for Bukit Katil Adly Zahari and Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali who is defending his Lendu seat.

Others were PH’s candidate for Asahan, Idris Haron and his wife, and independent candidate for Pengkalan Batu Norhizam Hassan Baktee.

Polling for the Melaka state election started at 8am today with the opening of 217 polling centres involving 1,109 channels handled by a total of 12,290 election officials in 28 state constituencies.

Polling will end at 5.30 pm.

There are 476,037 ordinary voters out of a total of 495,195 registered voters in the state.

The Melaka state election was called following the dissolution of the state assembly on Oct 4, following the move by four state assemblymen to withdraw their support for the chief minister.