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Malaysiakini brings you live updates on the ground in Sabah as voting takes place from 8 am to 5.30 pm
8.17am – Warm weather at SK Bingkor voting center
Voters from SK Bingkor, Keningau are passing through detection stations to identify if any of them have a body temperature above 37.5 ° C or have Covid-19 symptoms.
“There may be voters whose temperatures are high because of the weather and so on. We’ll check them first before they’re allowed in,” said a health official at the station.
Star’s Robert Tawik defends the Bingkor seat against five other candidates.
8.15 am – Temperature controls in the voting centers
Voters in SJK (C) Chung Hwa, Kota Kinabalu are going through Covid-19 screening measures before they are allowed to enter the voting center.
Health officials are present, some to ensure physical distancing is respected, while others for voter temperatures.
Voters are directed to their respective voting channels in an orderly fashion on a basketball court that has been converted into a waiting room.
Chairs placed for voters are placed at least one meter apart from each other, as part of the measures being taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 on Election Day.
In recent days, Sabah has consistently recorded the highest number of new Covid-19 cases in the country. You currently also have several active clusters.
8.10 am – Shafie votes in Semporna
Sabah Heritage Party Chairman Mohd Shafie Apdal arrives at SK Bubul Semporna to cast his vote.
The acting prime minister is seen arriving with his wife, dressed in a white shirt and mask.
A guard at the entrance to the polling station applied disinfectant to Shafie’s hand before letting him in.
Shafie greeted the media staff who had been waiting for him, before heading to the polling station.
8 a.m. – Voters queue up at Lamag
Voters have been waiting in line outside the school gates at SMK Bukit Garam, Kinabatangan, one of the 12 polling stations on N58 Lamag, since 7 am, 30 minutes before the official start of today’s elections.
Sabah Umno boss Bung Moktar Radin, who is also a BN candidate for Lamag, will cast his vote here, under the Bukit Garam voting district, with 2,503 eligible voters in six polling streams.
There are a total of 8,159 eligible voters in Lamag, one of two state seats under the Kinabatangan parliamentary seat, which Bung has held since 1999.
Decision day in Sabah
7.45 am: Today is D-Day, the “day of decision” of Sabah’s instant elections following a failed attempt to overthrow the Warisan government.
It began when Umno’s Musa Aman announced in late July that he had gathered enough support from Sabah representatives who defected from their parties to form a new state government, and he returned as prime minister.
However, their coup attempt was thwarted by the current chief minister, Shafie Apdal, who dissolved the state assembly, paving the way for snap elections.
Sabah’s election campaign has seen allies pitting against each other over major ministerial seats and candidates, as well as voter sentiment on undocumented immigrants, the Covid-19 pandemic, local parties versus peninsular parties, and problems of development.
Now things will come to a head when 1.12 million eligible Sabahans will cast their votes to decide who will lead their new state government.
Read more: Who’s who in the 2020 Sabah elections
With 73 seats up for grabs, up from 60 in the last election, voters can choose to support Heritage Plus coalition, which is made up of Warisan, DAP, PKR, Amanah, and United Progressive Kinabalu Organization (Upko), or the new Sabah People’s Coalition (GRS) composed of Perikatan Nasional (PN), BN and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
Smaller local parties like Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) and the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD), as well as independent candidates, will also join the fight.
Read more: Sabah Decide 2020: Making sense of players, parties and battles
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