State polls: EC sets Aug 12 for polling day, July 29 for nomination

PUTRAJAYA: The polling day for the state assembly elections has been set for August 12, says the Election Commission (EC).

It also announced that the nomination day for candidates will be on July 29, while early voting will be on August 8.

The announcements were made on Wednesday (July 5) by EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh at a press conference after chairing the EC special meeting on the state polls.

He also said that there are 9,773,571 eligible voters for the upcoming state polls, adding that this is made up of 9,674,456 normal voters, 49,660 armed forces members and their spouses, 47,728 police force members and their spouses, and 1,727 absent voters based overseas.

Selangor leads with over 3.7 million voters, followed by Kedah with over 1.5 million voters and Kelantan with 1.4 million voters.

The EC had opened applications for registration for domestic and international postal voting on June 15.

The deadline for postal votes applications will be on July 26 for category 1A (EC officers, police force members, armed forces members and media); July 8 for category 1B (Malaysians based overseas); and July 11 for category 1C (agencies or organisations).

For further information, the public can visit https://mysprsemak.spr.gov.my.

Abdul Ghani then said that the estimated cost to run the polls for all six states is RM420mil.

The announcement follows the dissolution of the state assemblies of Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu to hold fresh polls for the state governments.

Last Monday, EC secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak said in a statement that the meeting followed the receipt of notices of the official dissolution of the Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan state assemblies from their respective State Assembly speakers.

Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu are held by Perikatan Nasional while Penang, Selangor and Negri are ruled by the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional alliance under the unity government.