S'wak Polls: Polling centres closed, vote tallying process begins

KUCHING: The voting process for the 12th Sarawak state election that began at 9.30 am ended after all polling centres closed at 5 pm today.

This election involved 1,213,769 ordinary voters out of a total of 1,252,014 registered voters.

A total of 1,866 voting centres involving 3,555 channels were set up. Depending on the number of voters, several centres began to close in stages from as early as 11 am before polling ended at 5 pm.

Once the voting centres closed, all the ballot boxes were taken to the 82 vote tallying centres and the official results will be announced tonight.

On Dec 14, a total of 18,141 out of 20,360 registered early voters had cast their votes while 17,885 voted by post.

The Sarawak election this time witnessed 13 three-cornered fights; four-cornered (33); five-cornered (24); six-cornered (seven); and eight-cornered (one). There were also four straight fights.

Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) fielded 82 candidates for the polls, followed by Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) 73, Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) 70, Parti Keadilan Rakat (PKR) 28, DAP 26, Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Aspirasi) 15, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) 11, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) eight, Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (Sedar) five and PAS one.

Thirty independent candidates were in the fray as well.

-- BERNAMA