State polls: Over 9.67 million voters go to the polls in six states today

KUALA LUMPUR: Over 9.67 million registered voters are eligible to vote today (Aug 12) in the six-state elections to elect members of their respective state legislative assemblies for the next five years.

Also held today is polling for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election.

All polling centres in the six states, namely Penang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu, and Kelantan, as well as in Kuala Terengganu, are scheduled to open simultaneously at 8am and close at 6pm.

The polling will see 9,674,456 registered electors cast their ballots at 3,190 polling centres, involving 17,048 voting streams, while for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election, 217 voting streams are available at 41 polling centres.

On Tuesday (Aug 8), 72,554 security personnel and their spouses fulfilled their civic duties as early voters in the six state elections with voter turnout in Kedah being 96.02 per cent, Terengganu (95.91 per cent), Selangor (95.87 per cent), Penang (95.01 per cent), Negri Sembilan (94.05 per cent) and Kelantan (93.90 per cent).

Early voting also took place the same day for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election, involving 1,286 or 95.47 per cent of military personnel and policemen along with their spouses.

Following the nomination day on July 29, a total of 570 candidates are vying for 245 seats in the six state elections, while the Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary by-election is seeing a straight fight between Pakatan Harapan and PAS candidates.

The 14-day campaigning period for the state polls and the by-election, which began on July 29, ended at 11.59pm on Friday night (Aug 11).

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Meteorological Department on its website predicted rain in one or two places in Penang, Negri Sembilan, and Selangor this morning.

Many coastal areas of Kedah are also expected to experience the same weather conditions, while Terengganu was predicted to have cloudy skies, and good weather was forecast in Kelantan.

The state polls involve 40 state seats in Penang, Selangor (56), Negeri Sembilan (36), Kedah (36), Terengganu (32) and 45 in Kelantan.

The Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election was held following the decision of the Terengganu Election Court on June 27 to annul the victory of PAS candidate Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim in the 15th General Election after it was found that there was an element of bribery during the election campaign.- Bernama