It's the day of reckoning for candidates and voters

The Star Newspaper / 8 Mar 2008
 

PETALING JAYA: It is polling day today. The country's 10.92 million registered voters will cast their votes in the country's 12th general election.

At stake are 214 parliamentary seats and 501 state seats.

Eight parliamentary seats were taken by the Barisan Nasional unopposed while four state seats--three by Barisan and one by PAS--were won unopposed and will not see any polling.

As required by Election Commission rules, campaigning by the various political parties stopped at midnight yesterday.

Votes will be cast at 7,950 polling stations throughout the country. Stations in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan will open at 7.30am while those in Peninsular Malaysia will open at 8am.

Of the 10,922,139 registered voters, 1,409,395 are first-time voters. Women voters outnumber men, making up 50.07% of those on the roll.

In other developments:

• Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged Malaysians to come out and vote wisely.


• Police said Malaysians should come out and vote without fear as any act of intimidation will be dealt with quickly.


• Voters should also cast their ballots early as thunderstorms are likely in most states.