By NNN-Bernama
Kuala Lumpur : Polling today in the country’s 12th general election ended at 5pm nationwide except in three Sarawak localities where it stalled owing to the capsize of a boat carrying Election Commission (EC) workers.
The 221 voters in the Uma Sekapan Piit longhouse (one locality) and Uma Balo Kasing Long Amo longhouses (two localities) will cast their ballots on Sunday after EC workers are flown there by helicopter, EC chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said.
EC workers had conducted the polling at Uma Sekapan Piit, where there are 101 voters, and were travelling to the other longhouses when their boat capsized in the swollen Rajang River, causing the cast ballot papers they were transporting to be damaged.
Altogether, 10.9 million voters nationwide were eligible to go to the polls today to elect representatives in 214 of the 222 parliamentary constituencies and 501 of the 505 state constituencies.
Eight Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates were returned unopposed to parliamentary seats on nomination day while three BN candidates and one PAS candidate were returned unopposed to state constituencies.
The EC reported that by 3pm, up to 58 per cent of the voters had cast their votes. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi cast his ballot at Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Bertam in Kepala Batas, Penang state, while Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak voted at Sekolah Menengah Sains Sultan Ahmad Shah in Pekan, Pahang state.
Polling was generally smooth nationwide except for several minor incidents which, according to the police, did not disrupt the election.
In Sarawak state, at least 200 voters in Long Lama, Baram, were prevented by floods from getting to their polling centres.
In Terengganu state , a man in Kampung Tok Has near Kuala Terengganu, believed to be a party supporter, punched the driver of a tour bus transporting 38 matriculation students of the Mara College in Banting, Selangor, alleging that the passengers were phantom voters.
In Marang, also in Terengganu, police arrested 22 supporters of PAS after they caused a ruckus by stopping two buses ferrying matriculation students and attacking police vehicles in Kampung Rusila.
Meanwhile, two voters collapsed and died after casting their ballots in separate incidents in Alor Star and Kepala Batas.
A farmer collapsed and died soon after voting at Sekolah Maktab Mahmud in Jalan Langgar, Alor Star, while a man collapsed and died while queuing to vote in Kepala Batas.