MELAKA: The Melaka election will see a total of 112 candidates contesting, with multi-cornered fights in most of the 28 seats, says Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh.

       The Election Commission (EC) chairman confirmed that it had received a total of 112 nomination papers that are qualified to contest in the state polls.

       "From the total, 28 nomination papers were from Barisan Nasional, 28 from Perikatan Nasional, 28 from Pakatan Harapan, five from Parti Bumiputra Perkasa Malaysia (Putra), one from Parti Perikatan India Muslim Nasional (Iman) and 22 Independents," he told a press conference here Monday (Nov 8).

       From the total, 96 of them are male candidates while 16 of them are women.

       According to Abdul Ghani, from a total of 28 state seats, there will be three three-cornered fights, nine four-cornered-fights, five five-cornered contests and three six-cornered tussles in the state polls.

       The oldest candidate is 68 year-old Datuk Kalsom Nordin, fielded by Barisan Nasional in the Pengkalan Batu state seat, while the youngest is 21-year-old Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir from Pakatan Harapan in the Sungai Rambai state seat, said the EC.

       The EC also has formed 28 election enforcement teams to monitor all campaigning activities, he said.

       He also revealed that there were no reports of positive Covid-19 cases during the nomination period.