Malaysia goes to the polls

There is an increase in number of voters and a number of firsts.

PETALING JAYA: Polling stations open today at 8am allowing about 13 million registered voters to cast their ballot papers for their respective representatives for Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies.

Nationwide there are 8,789 polling centres with 26,219 polling streams.

The polling stations close at 5pm and official results are expected to be out from 8pm onwards.

In the 2008 general election, there were 10,922,139 voters.

This time around, a total of 13,268,002 voters are expected to decide their representatives for Parliament and state assemblies. Of the 13.2 million voters, up to 2,345,863 million are young voters. Up to 12,992,661 voters are ordinary voters.

There are 275,341 early voters of whom 161,251 are military personnel and their spouses. Another 111,136 voters are police personnel and their spouses. There are also 2,954 absentee voters living abroad.

A total of 579 candidates are vying for 222 parliamentary seats and 1,322 candidates are eyeing the 505 state seats.

Independents created a record this time around. Of the 579 parliamentary candidates, there are 79 Independents. Of the 1,322 candidates for state constituencies, 190 are Independents.

The police are deploying 112,000 personnel tomorrow to ensure that the entire election process runs smoothly.

Direct candidate

The Election Commission (EC) has allocated a budget of RM400 million to conduct the election and is employing 222 returning officers with 1,088 assistants.

Parliament was dissolved on April 3, with 135 MPs from Barisan Nasional, 29 from the DAP, 22 from PAS, 23 from PKR, one each from Parti Sosialis Malaysia and Kita and 10 Independents.

There are a number of firsts in this 13th general election.

For the first time, BN chairman and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak introduced a direct candidate system.

The candidate is Zulkifli Noordin. In 2008, he won the general election in the Kulim Bandar Baharu parliamentary seat on a PKR ticket before turning BN-friendly Independent. This time around, he is fielded in Shah Alam, Selangor, where he is facing incumbent Khalid Samad (PAS).

For the first time, an Umno-BN candidate did not file his nomination papers on nomination day on April 20.

Umno’s Che Johan Che Pa did not file his papers paving the way for Independent incumbent, Ibrahim Ali, to face off against Nik Abduh Nik Aziz of PAS for the Pasir Mas parliamentary seat in Kelantan.

Another first is the introduction of the indelible ink following recommendation from a Parliament Select Committee for electoral reforms.

The GE13 also saw a record of sorts: political violence during the campaigning period. There are a total of 19 cases of political violence recorded during the two-week campaigning,

The election is also unusual in that no candidates won their seats uncontested.