JOHOR BARU: Early voting for the Johor state election concluded smoothly with 94.49% of voters casting their ballots.
Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Khairul Shahril Idrus said the figure involved 19,471 voters, comprising military personnel and their spouses, as well as police personnel, including those from the General Operations Force (GOF) and their spouses.
Khairul Shahril said the voting process, which began at 8am, involved 62 early voting centres across the state, with the centres closing in stages between noon and 5pm.
He said 29 voting centres closed at noon and five centres at 2pm, while the remaining 28 closed at 5pm. Meanwhile, for the police, 95.42% of eligible police personnel cast their ballots.
Johor police chief Datuk Comm Ab Rahaman Arsad said that the overall election campaign has remained peaceful despite several election-related offences being investigated.
“A total of 11,511 of the 12,706 eligible police officers, personnel and their spouses registered as early voters cast their ballots as of 5pm.
“Overall, the early voting process involving 64 early voting centres across Johor, comprising 53 police centres and 11 Armed Forces centres, was conducted smoothly, orderly and under control without any incidents affecting security, public order or the election process,” he said.
He said the security situation remained under control.
“Between July 3 and July 6, we received 1,447 permit applications for political ceramahs and campaign activities, of which 1,366 were approved.
“Cumulatively, from nomination day until Monday, we received 3,484 permit applications, approved 3,215 of them and monitored 3,182 political programmes and campaign activities,” he added.
Comm Ab Rahaman said during the four-day period from July 3 to July 6, police also received 32 reports and opened 10 investigation papers involving election-related offences.
