THE voting period will end at 5pm today and will not be extended, said Election Commission chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah, even though there are still people who have not been able to cast their votes due to long queues.

Despite this, Bersih 2.0 urged voters to stay in their lines and not leave until they were allowed to vote.

In a video shared on the Bersatu Facebook page earlier, Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad blamed the “slow” processing of ballots for the long queues formed outside many polling stations.

“I have received reports from polling stations that many people have been waiting in line at voting stations and that the process of voting has been slow,” said Dr Mahathir.

He said because of that, many voters could not enter the voting streams before the 5pm cut-off, adding that the EC must either quicken the process at voting stations, or extend the time for voters to cast their ballots.

“This is a denial of their right to vote.

“I hope the EC will take note of this, because it is not the voters’ faults, but the process of voting which takes too long.”

“Some people have been queueing for two hours. If you have not voted yet, please head to your polling stations immediately before 5pm,” it said in a statement.

Pakatan Harapan’s Permatang Pauh candidate, Nurul Izzah Anwar, had earlier said the 5pm deadline should be extended as the queues at polling stations were long.

Voters in Gombak had complained that the queues, especially for senior citizens, were too long. – May 9, 2018.