MELAKA, Nov 14 — The 16th Melaka election kicked off today with 240 ordinary polling centres with 1,213 streams opened at 8am.
Polling centres will be open until 6pm.
The Election Commission (EC) said 675,166 ordinary voters are eligible to cast their ballots to elect 28 representatives, with voter turnout set to reach 70 per cent.
Overall, 687,697 voters are eligible to vote in this election, including 12,531 military personnel, their spouses and police personnel who cast their ballots during early voting on Tuesday.
Early voting, which involved 31 polling centres, recorded a physical turnout of 9,417 voters, or 94.96 per cent of the 9,917 eligible voters, while another 2,614 voted by post.
Seventy-nine candidates are contesting the 28 state seats in this election, with 24 from Pakatan Harapan, 23 from Barisan Nasional (BN), 16 from Bersama, five from Perikatan Nasional (PN), one from Putra, and three Independents.
The election was called following the dissolution of the 15th Melaka State Legislative Assembly on September 23, with the consent of Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Mohd Ali Rustam.
BN swept 21 of 28 seats in the previous Melaka election on November 20, 2021, while Harapan secured five and PN earned two.
