MELAKA: With less than two hours before the polling centres in the state close their doors, only 61 per cent out of 476,037 eligible electorate have cast their votes as of 4pm.
At 9am today, the Election Commission (EC) has recorded a low voter turnout at seven per cent and a slight increase to 17 per cent at 10am.
The slow voting trend continued until 11am where the EC recorded 27 per cent turnout at the time.
At noon, the voter turnout was 36 per cent, followed by 43 per cent at 1pm, 50 per cent at 2pm and 57 per cent at 3pm.
Early voting on Nov 16 saw an 89.9 per cent turnout, with 10,390 voters, consisting of police, military personnel and their spouses casting their ballots.
Since the Melaka state election campaigning period began last week, political analysts have predicted a low voter turnout for today's polling day.
According to them, fear of Covid-19 infection, political fatigue and strict election standard operating procedures (SOP) would be the main causes for the low turnout.
The EC had predicted a 70 per cent turn-out.
For today's election, a total of 217 polling stations and 1,109 voting streams in 28 constituencies are opened from 8am to 5.30pm, under tight SOP to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Voters are required to wear face masks, undergo body temperature checks, use hand sanitisers and practise physical distancing. A special tent is also provided for Covid-19 symptomatic voters.
Yesterday, EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh told the New Straits Times that the results for the state election would be in latest by midnight.
The earliest, he said, would probably be in by 10pm, adding that this would only happen if the EC managed to get the cooperation of all parties today.
"We expect the results will be aired before midnight. This will depend on the cooperations of our Returning Officers (RO), EC officers as well as agents of the candidates.
"A good cooperation between voters and those managing the voting process will enable the EC to announce the results as soon as possible.
"If possible, I predict that the earliest time for the results to be announced would be by 10pm.
"Let's hope this (results out by 10pm) will happen," he said.
The Melaka State Legislative Assembly has 28 seats with 14 seats held by BN, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (2), DAP (7), PKR (2), Parti Amanah Negara (2), and Independent (1).
In the GE14, Pakatan Harapan (PH) won 15 seats while 13 seats were garnered by BN. It saw PH forming the state government with Amanah's Adly Zahari becoming the Chief Minister.
The Melaka state election was sparked following the dissolution of its state assembly on Oct 4 after four state assemblymen withdrew their support for the then Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali from Umno.
Click here for more information on the Melaka election results.