THE Election Commission reported a 32% voter turnout in the Sarawak elections as of 11am today.

The polling centres opened at 7.30am.

A total of 1,866 centres, involving 3,555 channels, have been set up and, depending on the number of voters, several centres are expected to close in stages as early as noon, before the polling ends at 5pm.

The 12th state elections, involving 1.2 million ordinary voters out of 1.25 million registered voters, will be managed by some 46,565 election officials in all 82 state seats.

On Tuesday, a total of 18,141 out of 20,360 registered early voters had cast their votes while 17,885 voted by post.

There will be 13 three-cornered fights; four-cornered (33), five-cornered (24,; six-cornered (7) and eight-cornered (1). There will also be four straight fights.

Gabungan Parti Sarawak is fielding 82 candidates for the polls, followed by Parti Bumi Kenyalang (73), Parti Sarawak Bersatu (70), PKR (28), DAP (26), Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (15), Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (11), Amanah (8), Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (5) and PAS (1). 

Thirty independent candidates are in the fray as well. – Bernama, December 18, 2021.