KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Malaysia kicked off its national polls today, with voters streaming to voting centres to elect representatives who will form the next government.
The 15th General Election is notable for a large number of new voters, as the voting age has been lowered to 18 years from 21 years old before. Automatic voter registration has also been implemented, allowing anyone over the age of 18 to vote without registering with the country’s election commission.
There will be 363,515 election workers, who will operate 8,958 voting centres across the country, to serve a total of 21,173,638 registered voters, the commission said, previously.
There are several coalitions vying for power with the Barisan Nasional (BN) being the oldest, having administered the country since its independence in 1957, till its shock defeat in the 2018 national polls.
It was succeeded by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. However, PH collapsed in Feb, 2020, after 22 months in power and was in turn succeeded by two more short-lived governments, first led by former prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who formed the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, and second led by caretaker Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who was sworn in as PM in Aug last year.
Ismail Sabri dissolved parliament on Oct 10, paving the way for a snap election, citing the need to end the political uncertainty.– NNN-BERNAMA