A total of 38 early voting centres opened at 8am today for the 16th Negeri Sembilan State Election, allowing 22,339 military and police personnel, along with their spouses to vote.
According to the Election Commission (EC), early voting is being held for security personnel across the state, with polling centres closing in stages between noon and 5pm.
16,884 military personnel eligible to vote
A total of 16,884 Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) personnel and their spouses are eligible to vote at eight designated polling centres statewide.
At the Army Basic Training Centre (Pusasda), 1,481 military personnel and their spouses are casting their ballots for the Bagan Pinang constituency. The voting process there involves 11 polling streams and runs from 8am to 5pm, with military personnel and their spouses seen queuing as early as 7am.
Bagan Pinang is seeing a three-cornered contest between incumbent Abdul Fatah Zakaria of Perikatan Nasional (PN), Sheikh Junaidy Jamaludin of Bersatu, and Nasir Raman of Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Meanwhile, 5,455 Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) personnel and their spouses are eligible to vote at 30 polling centres across the state.
At the Negeri Sembilan Police Contingent Headquarters (IPK) in Seremban, 979 police personnel and their spouses are voting for the Temiang constituency.
ASP Harminder Singh Pritam Singh was among the first early voters to vote at the centre this morning. Temiang is also seeing a three-cornered contest involving Ho Weng Wah of PH, Leaw Kok Chan of BN, and Fazly Hamid of Bersatu.
Polling day set for Saturday
The early voting process will close in stages, with 18 centres closing at noon, two at 2pm, and the remaining 18 at 5pm.
For the main polling day this Saturday, around 889,490 ordinary voters will head to the polls to decide the winners of the 36 seats in the Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly.
A total of 103 candidates are contesting in the state election.
PH is fielding the most candidates with 36, followed by BN with 25 and Bersatu with 24. PN is contesting 11 seats, while four independent candidates are also in the race. Berjasa, Parti Orang Asli Malaysia (ASLI) and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) are each fielding one candidate.
The Negeri Sembilan State Assembly was dissolved on June 5 to pave the way for the state election, with polling day set for Aug 1.
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