Polling closes at 5 PM, 80 per cent of voters cast ballots

Some 80 per cent of the 12,992,661 voters eligible to vote in the 13th General Election today have cast their ballots, giving the highest voter turnout for the country in a general election, the Election Commission (EC) announced.

EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said most of the 8,245 polling centres which opened at 8 am closed at 5 pm as scheduled.

Two polling centres in the Tungku state constituency and one in the Lahad Datu constituency, in Sabah, closed at 3 pm as scheduled, he told Bernama.

He said the counting of votes began at 5.30 pm and the tallying would be done after that.

The first of the results was expected to be known at 7.30 pm, he added.