Women outpace men at ballot boxes in Melaka polls

MELAKA: Female voters recorded a higher turnout than men in the 16th Melaka state election, with 31 per cent of women having cast their ballots as of 11.30am today.

Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun said the commission's real-time voter attendance tracking system enabled officials to monitor turnout by demographic groups across all 240 polling centres statewide.

"Everything is running smoothly, and we are receiving real-time data on voter attendance broken down by gender, persons with disabilities (PWD), and other categories.

"So far, women are leading men in voter turnout at 31 per cent," he told reporters after visiting the polling centre at SJK(C) Malim in the Kesidang state constituency.

Overall voter turnout stood at 31.07 per cent as of 11.30am, up from 17.96 per cent at 10am.

Ramlan said more than 7,000 registered voters with disabilities had cast their ballots that morning.

"This is a very positive development," he said, adding that the EC remained optimistic of achieving its target of 70 to 75 per cent overall turnout before polling closes at 6pm.

At SJK(C) Malim, which serves the 54,910-strong Kesidang electorate, 13 voting streams were opened at 8am.

Ramlan also advised voters not to wait until the last minute to cast their ballots, citing forecasts of rain this afternoon.

"I continue to urge the public to come out early to vote because we are concerned about weather forecasts predicting rain this afternoon," he said.

The 16th Melaka state election was called following the dissolution of the state legislative assembly on Sept 23, ahead of the expiry of its five-year mandate.

A total of 79 candidates, comprising 65 men and 14 women, are contesting the 28 seats, with 15 needed for a simple majority.

A total of 687,697 voters are registered for the election, including 675,166 ordinary voters eligible to cast their ballots today.

Early voting on Nov 10 recorded a turnout of 94.96 per cent, with 9,417 of the 9,917 eligible voters casting their ballots at 31 polling centres. Another 2,614 voted by post.