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Advance voting in Sarawak polls proceeding smoothly, says EC chief

S’WAK POLLS Advance voting involving 24,604 voters in the 11th Sarawak state elections which began at 8am today is proceeding smoothly, according to Election Commission chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah.

He said at 10am, 21 percent of the advance voters consisting of police and military personnel and their spouses had cast their ballots.

“The voting centres are packed with uniformed personnel and their spouses with some bringing along their children,” he told reporters after visiting the voting centre at Dewan Bukavu, Kem Penrissen, Batu 8 in Kuching.

“It is the spirit that is important. They are showing high spirits in upholding the democratic system in the country,” he said.

Advance voters eligible to cast their ballots at Kem Penrissen number 3,782.

Besides Kem Penrissen, Kem Muara Tuang and the Kota Samarahan district police headquarters also serve advance voting centres for the Stakan constituency.

Mohd Hashim said good weather in the morning also facilitated ease of voting for the early voters in the election, numbering 15,113 military and 9,491 police personnel and their spouses.

Thirty-three of the 79 voting centres for early voting will close at 2pm and the rest at 5pm.

Meanwhile, the Army’s Eastern Region commander Lt-Gen Mohd Zaki Mokhtar said he had encouraged his men to come out in full force to vote.

“We are hoping they will come in early so that we can know who have not come and make efforts to bring them (to the voting centres),” he said.

The electoral roll shows that Stakan constituency has the highest number of advance voters with 7,055, followed by Bukit Sentosa (3,163), Nangka (3,043), Batu Kawah (1,241) and Sri Aman (1,075).

The total figure does not include early voters for the Bukit Kota and Bukit Sari seats which were won uncontested by Barisan Nasional candidates.

- Bernama

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