Melaka turnout hits 40.32pc by noon, Serkam leads the way

Three generations of the Lee family show off their inked fingers after voting at SJKC Notre Dame during the 16th Melaka state election on November 14, 2026. — Bernama pic

By Ben Tan

First Published: Saturday, 14 Nov 2026 12:53 PM MYT

MELAKA, Nov 14 — More than 40 per cent of registered voters in Melaka had cast their ballots by noon today in the state election.

The Election Commission’s (EC) real-time Voter Turnout Monitoring dashboard recorded turnout at 40.32 per cent as of 12pm, with more than 270,000 voters having voted.

Serkam recorded the highest turnout among the 28 state constituencies, at 46.65 per cent, while Bandar Hilir had the lowest, at 35.26 per cent.

The EC is targeting a 70 per cent turnout in the election, which sees 79 candidates contesting 28 seats.

A total of 240 polling centres, comprising 1,213 polling streams, opened at 8am today for the 16th Melaka state election.

Voting is scheduled to continue until 6pm, following the end of the 14-day campaign period at 11.59 last night.

The EC said 675,166 ordinary voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the election.

The total number of registered voters is 687,697, including 12,531 military personnel, their spouses and police personnel who were eligible to vote during the early voting phase on Tuesday.

Early voting was conducted at 31 polling centres, with 9,417 of the 9,917 eligible voters casting their ballots in person, representing a turnout of 94.96 per cent.

Another 2,614 voters cast their ballots by post.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) is fielding the most candidates, contesting 24 seats, followed by Barisan Nasional (BN) with 23, Parti Bersama Malaysia with 16, Bersatu with seven, Perikatan Nasional (PN) with five, Parti Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia with one and three independents.

The 79 candidates were confirmed following the nomination process on October 31.

The election follows the dissolution of the 15th Melaka State Legislative Assembly on September 23, with the consent of Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Mohd Ali Rustam.

In the previous state election on November 20, 2021, BN won 21 of the 28 seats, while PH took five and PN secured two.