KOTA KINABALU: The Election Commission (EC) reported up to 32% voter turnout as at 11 am in the 16th Sabah state election today.
EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh said the commission expects a voter turnout of between 70 and 75 per cent by the time all polling stations close at 5 pm.
“I hope the voters will come out (to cast their ballots) as there is still plenty of time. Some polling stations will close at 2 pm, some at 3 pm and the rest at 5 pm. Voters must adhere to the SOPs in place (due to the Covid-19 pandemic). They must also not forget to bring along their identity cards,” he said when approached after he had visited the polling station at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sanzac, here.
A total of 2,540 polling streams have been made available at the 741 polling stations which opened at 7.30 am in the 73 constituencies.
Some 17,257 election workers are conducting the election to enable 1,088,711 of the 1,103,646 voters to exercise their right. A total of 14,935 people had voted by post.
Abdul Ghani said polling was disrupted for about 20 minutes at a polling station at a school in Sandakan due to a fire caused by faulty electrical wiring.
A fan at a hall for polling streams 1 and 2 caught fire but the situation was brought under control, he said.
He also said that a political party booth located too close to a polling station was pulled down for violating election rules.
A party flag was also removed for having been placed too close to a polling station, he added.
Abdul Ghani praised voters for adhering to the Covid-19 SOPs put in place by the Health Ministry to ensure smooth polling throughout the state.
“I am thankful to the Health Ministry for constantly advising voters on physical distancing as they arrive at and leave polling stations.
“We have good cooperation with the Health Ministry. Its personnel are stationed at the tents we have provided to enable them take care of voters who may have suspected Covid-19 symptoms,” he said.
He also said that so far polling in the Covid-19 red zones have proceeded smoothly.
“So far, there have been no reports,” he said when replying to a question on whether the voter turnout in these areas has been low.
The Health Ministry had reported two days ago that Lahad Datu, Tawau, Kunak and Semporna are COVID-19 red zones due to a rise in the number of cases.-Bernama
