KOTA KINABALU: The Election Commission (EC) has set the Sabah State Election to be held on Sept 26.
The nomination will be held on Sept 12, while early voting is on Sept 22.
The dates were announced by EC deputy chairman Dr Azmi Sharom at a press conference after chairing the meeting on the State Election here today.
Dr Azmi said there are 1.12 million registered voters in Sabah and the EC targets 70 per cent voter turnout for the state election.
“The campaigning period is set for 14 days beginning after the announcement of names of contesting candidates until midnight on Sept 25,” he said.
The Sabah State Legislative Assembly was dissolved on July 30 to make way for a fresh state election within 60 days.
Dr Azmi said the cost for the state election is estimated at RM186 million.
A total of 30,540 personnel would be appointed to manage the state election process, and 741 polling centres with a total of 2,540 channels and 56 early voting centres would be prepared for the purpose.
Application for domestic and overseas postal voting is now open and will close on Sept 3 (domestic) and Sept 11 (overseas), respectively, he said.
The EC has also appointed 73 returning officers and 193 assistant returning officers to manage the state election process, besides having formed 73 enforcement teams to monitor all campaign activities.
“A total of 64 nomination cum vote-tallying centres will be used during this state election,” he said.
Dr Azmi said the EC would also send to all voters the voter’s cards which will contain the information on their allocated polling centre, polling channel, number, the proposed time to cast their votes.
This will ensure smooth running of the voting process, besides easing the voters’ compliance with the standard operating procedures on physical distancing to curb the spread of Covid-19 as advised by the Ministry of Health.
Voters can also check their voting information through the EC portal pengundi.spr.gov.my or the MySPR Semak application or via short message service (SMS) at 15888, starting Sept 7.
He said that 12,297 voters who are persons with disabilities registered with the Social Welfare Department have also been identified to be involved in the state election. – Bernama
