Johor state election: Polling centre at Balai Raya Pulau Besar first to close

JOHOR BAHRU: The polling centre at Balai Raya Pulau Besar in Mersing was closed at 11 am today, making it the first for the Johor state election.

The polling centre, which opened at 8 am, had only one channel for the 34 eligible voters in the Tenggaroh constituency, was opened for three hours.

According to the Election Commission (EC), 22 per cent of the voters went to cast their vote before the polling centre was closed at 11 am.

EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh and EC secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak were on the ground and went to several polling centres, including at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Taman Selesa Jaya 2 in the Skudai state constituency and at Dewan Hassan Abdullah, in the Perling state constituency to observe the voting process,

In Muar, Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said he was targetting a voter turnour of between 70 to 80 per cent today based on the trend and movement of Johoreans returning to vote.

The former prime minister said a high turnout was important to reflect the reality of the aspiration of the people of Johor towards the government to be formed.

"If the percentage of voters is relatively low, it will not reflect what the people of Johor really want, which I believe is change and a new government.

"I hope those on the electoral roll, to come out to vote," he told reporters after casting his vote at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Sri Muar in Muar for the Maharani state constituency.

A total of 1,021 polling stations were opened for the voting process today to allow 2,539,606 ordinary voters, out of 2,597,742 registered voters in the state, to exercise their right.

There are 239 candidates from 15 political parties contesting for 56 state seats in this state election.

-- BERNAMA