Sabah Polls: Final Preparations For Early Voting Proceeding Smoothly

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Final preparations for early voting for the 17th Sabah state election involving armed forces and police personnel as well as their spouses, tomorrow, are proceeding smoothly.

A Bernama survey of several early voting centres around Kota Kinabalu and Penampang this evening found that all Election Commission (EC) officers were busy making final preparations to ensure the smooth running of the process.

Returning Officer Masawi Salleh when met by reporters after inspecting the early voting centre at Sekolah Agama Rakyat Kem Lok Kawi here said preparations had started since 2 pm involving 50 EC officers.

"We have already looked into the final preparations and there are seven channels open to launch the early voting process tomorrow involving 3,067 voters from the military and spouses," he said.

At the Senior Officers' MESS early voting centre, Sabah police contingent headquarters in Kapayan, preparations were also carried out carefully including the preparation of voting channels, the layout of tables and chairs and the posting of notices to ensure the smooth running of the process according to the set procedures.

In Sandakan, preparations for early voting for 1,582 voters from among police and military personnel along with their spouses for the Gum-Gum, Sungai Manila and Sungai Sibuga state seats were also going smoothly.

Returning Officer Imran Jagong@Osman said a total of 56 EC personnel were involved in the distribution of election equipment and ballot papers in the area.

“After the inspection of the equipment and ballot papers is completed, the materials will be placed in ballot boxes, sealed and stored in the lockup of the Sandakan district police headquarters (IPD).

“Tomorrow, before the voting process begins, the ballot boxes will be collected from the IPD early in the morning to be sent to the early voting centres in the three state constituencies,” he explained.

He said all the early voting centres are covered areas so voters do not need to worry about the weather conditions.

A total of 24,426 early voters comprising military and police personnel and their spouses will fulfil their responsibilities for early voting tomorrow.

This state election saw a total of 596 candidates contesting for 73 state seats with 74 of them being candidates contesting on Independent tickets.

Campaigning period for the 17th Sabah polls which began on Nov 15, will end at 11.59 pm on Nov 28.

For the latest news on the 17th Sabah state election, please visit https://prn.bernama.com/sabah/index.php

-- BERNAMA