KUALA LUMPUR Vote counting is under way in Malaysia on Saturday night, after more than 14 million people across the country cast their ballots for the 15th General Election.
Early results of the closest race in Malaysias election history have started trickling in, as three key coalitions and scores of smaller parties vie to form the fifth government in as many years.
The first official result announced by the Election Commission was for the parliamentary ward of Igan, Sarawak which was won by Mr Ahmad Johnie Zawawi of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
Meanwhile, an unofficial tally places Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari from Pakatan Harapan (PH) about 4,000 votes ahead of his key rival, caretaker minister and Perikatan Nasional candidate Azmin Ali, in the Gombak parliamentary ward in Selangor. As of 8.17pm, Datuk Seri Amirudin has picked up 12,687 votes against Datuk Seri Azmins 8,157, according to the unofficial tally cited by news site Malaysiakini.
A record 945 candidates were nominated to run for the 222 parliamentary seats, while over 21 million people were eligible to vote.
However, only 220 parliamentary seats completed balloting on Saturday. Voting was suspended in the rural ward of Baram, Sarawak, due to bad weather and floods. Meanwhile, the election in Padang Serai, Kedah, has been postponed to Dec 7 after its incumbent MP and Pakatan Harapan candidate Karupaiya Mutusami died on Wednesday.
Long queues at voting centres nationwide from early morning indicate a surge in interest, despite reports of political fatigue prior to the two weeks of official campaigning that began on Nov 5.
As at 4pm, the Election Commission said turnout stood at 70 per cent, or 14.8 million voters, surpassing the 12.3 million who cast their ballots in 2018.
Although pollsters on Friday predicted that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahims Pakatan Harapan was likely to win the most seats but fall short of a simple majority, they also warned that dozens of constituencies remained too close to call.
Elections are the will of the people. We have to wait for their decision. I am cautiously optimistic looking at the level of support throughout the country, Mr Anwar told reporters after voting in his hometown of Permatang Pauh, Penang.
The former deputy premier is hoping to wrest the Perak seat of Tambun from caretaker Youth and Sports Minister Faizal Azumu, as part of a high-risk strategy by his coalition to capture the swing state.
Should PH, the ruling Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) or former premier Muhyiddin Yassins Perikatan Nasional (PN) all fail to clinch a simple majority of at least 112 seats, a protracted period of negotiations to form government is expected to ensue from Sunday.
Get the latest news and results for Malaysia GE at https://str.sg/malaysia-election More On This Topic Malaysia election: Live results Interactive: Will Malaysia GE2022 return a strong majority government?
