MELAKA, Nov 14 — Voter turnout in the Melaka state election reached 67.74 per cent as of 4.30pm today, approaching the Election Commission’s (EC) 70 per cent target with 90 minutes left before polling closes.
The EC’s real-time Voter Turnout Monitoring dashboard showed that 453,351 voters had cast their ballots in the contest involving 79 candidates across 28 state seats.
Serkam continued to lead with a turnout of 77.21 per cent, followed by Ayer Molek at 76.14 per cent, Tanjung Bidara at 73.99 per cent and Sungai Rambai at 73.79 per cent.
Eight constituencies had surpassed 70 per cent turnout, with Ayer Limau, Duyong, Merlimau and Durian Tunggal also crossing that mark.
Bandar Hilir recorded the lowest turnout at 55.58 per cent, followed by Kota Laksamana at 60.20 per cent and Sungai Udang at 61.08 per cent.
A total of 240 polling centres, comprising 1,213 polling streams, opened at 8am today for the 16th Melaka state election, with voting scheduled to end at 6pm.
Polling follows the close of the 14-day campaign period at 11.59pm last night.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) is contesting 24 seats, followed by Barisan Nasional (BN) with 23 and Parti Bersama Malaysia with 16.
Bersatu is contesting seven seats under its own logo, separately from the five candidates standing under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) banner.
Parti Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) is contesting one seat, while three independent candidates are also in the running.
The election follows the dissolution of the Melaka State Legislative Assembly on September 23, with the consent of Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Mohd Ali Rustam.
