PETALING JAYA: The tussle for Melaka’s 28 state seats will soon begin, as candidates prepare for nomination day tomorrow (Oct 31).
Election hopefuls will battle it out to win the support of 687,697 voters in the state, who will cast their votes on Nov 14.
Early voting is scheduled to take place on Nov 10, according to the Election Commission.
Among the total number of voters in Melaka, most or 675,166 are ordinary voters, 9,769 are military personnel and their spouses, and 2,762 are police personnel.
The cost of running the election is estimated to be RM28.45mil, with 11,175 election workers appointed to conduct the polls.
With poll fever about to heat up, here’s a look at some interesting facts about the state.
Kesidang has the largest pool of eligible voters among Melaka’s 28 state constituencies, with 37,304 residents aged 18 and above, according to Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) data.
Kota Laksamana ranks second with 28,777 residents in this age group, while Paya Rumput is third with 26,455.
In terms of age profile, Bandar Hilir has the highest proportion of residents aged 65 and above among the 28 constituencies, at 13.9%.
At the other end of the spectrum, Bukit Katil has the highest proportion of children aged 14 and below, who account for 43.6% of its population.
Kota Laksamana, meanwhile, is Melaka’s most densely populated constituency, with 5,300 people per sq km across an area of just 7 sq km.
Explore the map below for a closer look at the population profile of Melaka’s constituencies.
At the state level, Melaka had an estimated population of 1.05 million in 2025, according to DOSM.
Bumiputra made up the largest share of the population at 72.8%, followed by the Chinese at 21.1%, Indians at 5.5% and other ethnic groups at 0.6%.
Those aged 15 to 64, classified by DOSM as being of working age, accounted for 70.9% of the state’s population.
The chart below provides a closer look at Melaka’s population structure by age and gender.
Melaka’s most recent election was held on Nov 20, 2021, which saw Barisan Nasional winning 21 out of the 28 seats.
This enabled the coalition to form the state government.
Pakatan Harapan won five seats, while Perikatan Nasional secured the remaining two seats.
Below is a look at the top 10 incumbents who won with the biggest majority in the 2021 polls.
DAP's Low Chee Leong won with the biggest margin in Kota Laksamana with 11,494 votes.
Some of the incumbents have had long winning streaks throughout the state’s polls over the years.
Among the 28 incumbents, two Umno leaders share the top spot for the most number of consecutive victories: Lendu assemblyman Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali and Serkam’s Datuk Zaidi Attan.
Both of them had successfully retained their seats since the state’s 2013 election, according to data from ElectionData.MY
In the last election, only one political party, namely Gerakan, met the goal of fielding 30% female candidates.
While they fielded 40% women, the numbers are still considered small - Gerakan fielded a total of five candidates and two of them were women.
Umno fielded the biggest number of female candidates with four women, but this only makes up 20% of their total 20 candidates.
On Sept 23, the Melaka state assembly was dissolved, paving way for fresh polls.
