Sarawak goes to polls Dec 18

KUCHING: The 12th Sarawak state election will be held on Dec 18, the Election Commission (EC) announced yesterday.

EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh, who made the announcement here, said the nomination for the polls will be on Dec 6 and early voting on Dec 14.

He made the announcement a er chairing a special meeting of the EC on the polls here.

The EC could not hold the Sarawak state election a er the tenure of the State Legislative Assembly ended on June 6 this year because of the nationwide state of emergency in force at that time.

Yang di-Pertuan Agong AlSultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin AlMustafa Billah Shah proclaimed the state of emergency on Jan 11, to curb the spread of Covid-19.

When the nationwide emergency ended on Aug 1, the King proclaimed a state of emergency for Sarawak from Aug 2 to Feb 2, 2022.

This emergency was li ed on Nov 3, thus enabling the EC to hold the Sarawak election.

Abdul Ghani said 82 seats are up for grabs in the state election, with the campaign period set for only 12 days from a er the nomination day on Dec 6 until 11.59 pm on Dec 17.

Meanwhile, in a statement, he said 1,252,014 registered Sarawak voters are eligible to vote in the polls, comprising 1,228,858 normal voters, 12,585 military personnel and spouses, 10,458 police personal and spouses, and 113 absent voters overseas.

He said to ensure smooth running of the election process, the EC had appointed 82 returning officers who will be assisted by 249 assistant returning officers.

A total of 46,565 election workers will be appointed to handle the state election process, he said.

There will be 1,866 polling centres with 3,555 polling channels/streams for normal voters to cast their votes on Dec 18, while the early voters can cast their votes at 85 polling centres which will have 111 polling channels/streams.

“Overall, there will be a total of 1,951 polling centres with 3,666 polling channels/streams.

The 12th Sarawak state election is expected to require an allocation of RM150 million,” he said.

Abdul Ghani said on the polling day, 346 polling centres will open from 7.30 am to 5 pm, while the remaining 1, 520 centres will open and close according to the gaze ed time, which is at 8 am and 5 pm, respectively.

For the early voting process, 11 centres will open from 8 am until only noon, 20 centres to open from 8 am to 2 pm, and the remaining 54 centres will open from 8 am to 5 pm.

“Apart from that, 82 nomination centres and 82 official vote-counting centres will be used at the state election,” he said. Abdul Ghani said the EC also targe ed 70 per cent voter turnout for the Sarawak polls.

For the purpose of monitoring the campaign activities throughout the election process, he said the EC would set up 155 election campaign enforcement teams which will also comprise police personnel and representatives of local authorities and contesting parties.

Meanwhile, Abdul Ghani said voters can check their information such as the polling centre, channel and voter’s number at EC’s website pengundi.spr.gov.my or by calling 0388927018 or through the MySPR Semak application from Dec 1.

He said application for postal voting can be done through MySPR Da ar at https://mysprdaar.spr.gov.my.

Applicants are advised to apply for postal voting early or as soon as the application is open to avoid any issues.