Melaka State Election: Nomination Closes at All 28 Centres as 14-Day Campaign Begins

MELAKA, October 31, 2026 – Nomination for the 16th Melaka state election closed at 10 am today at all 28 nomination centres across the state, with 79 candidates contesting the 28 seats in the Melaka State Legislative Assembly, according to the Election Commission (SPR) candidates dashboard.

The one-hour process began simultaneously at 9 am, with prospective candidates handing their nomination papers to the returning officers at each centre before the lists of qualified candidates were announced, Bernama reported. The news agency posted on X shortly after 10 am that all 28 centres had closed on schedule. Nomination day was set out in SPR media statement No. 54/2026.

79 candidates for 28 seats

According to the SPR dashboard, whose data was timed at 11.24 am today, there will be straight fights in 11 seats, three-cornered contests in 11 seats and four-cornered contests in six seats.

By the SPR’s party labels, Pakatan Harapan (PH) is fielding 24 candidates, Barisan Nasional (BN) 23, Parti Bersama Malaysia (Bersama) 16, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) seven and Perikatan Nasional (PN) five. Three independents and one candidate from Putra, in Gadek, make up the rest. The SPR lists Bersatu separately from PN.

PH and BN meet one-on-one in nine seats, including Tanjung Bidara and Merlimau, while BN faces Bersatu in straight fights in Lendu and Pantai Kundor. The four-cornered contests are in Gadek, Kelebang, Pengkalan Batu, Ayer Keroh, Bukit Katil and Bemban, according to the SPR list.

Campaign runs until November 13

With nomination over, candidates now enter a 14-day campaign period that ends at 11.59 pm on November 13, as set by the SPR. The SPR has fixed November 14 as polling day, with early voting on November 10, Bernama reported.

A total of 687,697 voters are eligible to cast their ballots, made up of 675,166 ordinary voters, 9,769 armed forces personnel and their spouses, and 2,762 police personnel, according to SPR figures cited by Bernama.

Bernama reported that party supporters began gathering at several nomination centres from as early as 7 am, with fair weather across the state. The Malaysian Meteorological Department had forecast sunny mornings throughout Melaka for nomination day.

According to the SPR, 189 nomination forms had been bought for the election as of Thursday night, October 29, and 45 prospective candidates had paid their deposits, Bernama reported.

SPR preparations

The SPR has said it appointed 28 returning officers and 80 assistant returning officers for the election, and that 11,175 election workers will run 271 polling centres with 1,263 polling streams across the state, as it shared on X. The commission is also using an optical character recognition and identity verification system, known as OCR-VA, in all 28 constituencies to speed up the recording of voter attendance by scanning identity documents, without changing existing voting procedures.

Voters can check their polling details through the MySPR Semak portal and app, which opened for the Melaka election on October 26, or through the SPR hotline, the commission said.

Background

The Melaka State Legislative Assembly was dissolved with effect from September 23 after consent from the Yang Dipertua Negeri of Melaka, Tun Mohd Ali Rustam, Bernama reported. In the 2021 state election, BN formed the government after winning 21 of the 28 seats contested, while PH won five and PN two, according to Bernama.

Credit : Bernama, SPR

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