PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians will head to the polls for the six state elections on Aug 12, with early voting set for Aug 8.
At a press conference today, Election Commission (EC) chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh announced that the nomination of candidates for the polls in Selangor, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu will be held on July 29
The six state governments had previously decided not to hold their elections simultaneously with the 15th general election (GE15) in November last year.
In December, Ghani said it would be best if the six state polls were held simultaneously to allow for better coordination of manpower. Last month, Putrajaya revealed that the polls is expected to cost a total of RM420 million. “The election campaign period is set for 14 days,” Ghani said.
He said the closing date for early voting applications is July 8 for Malaysians residing overseas, July 11 for agencies or organisations, and July 26 for the media, army, police and election officials.
It was previously reported that applications for domestic and international postal voting for the state polls in Kedah, Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan and Terengganu were open from June 15.
Ghani added that postal voting applications for Malaysians residing overseas and agencies or organisations can also be made online.
He said a total of 9,773,571 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the six states. There will be a total of 3,450 polling centres with 17,425 polling stations and channels, of which 260 are early voting centres comprising 377 polling stations.
He added that the EC has appointed 985 electoral officers and assistants, and has also set up 252 election campaign enforcement teams involving the police, local authorities and party representatives.