Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh (centre).

PUTRAJAYA (July 5): The upcoming elections for six states, namely Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, will be held on Aug 12.

This was announced by Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh in a press conference on Wednesday (July 5) after he chaired the commission’s special meeting pertaining to the key state election dates.

Abdul Ghani said nomination day is to fall on July 29, leaving candidates three weeks to campaign. Writ issuance is to be done on Wednesday.

He said early voting is to be held on Aug 8, while postal voting applications have been open since June 15 and will close on July 8 for Malaysians residing overseas, July 11 for agencies and organisations, and July 26 for media, military, police and election personnel.

The upcoming state polls involve the assemblies of Penang, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor, previously led by Pakatan Harapan ― which are now in a bloc with former political juggernaut Barisan Nasional (BN) as the unity government ― as well as Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, long-time strongholds of Perikatan Nasional’s PAS.

All six state assemblies were recently dissolved to make way for the state polls, leaving a total of 245 state assembly seats up for grabs ― 56 seats in Selangor, 45 in Kelantan, 40 in Penang, 36 in both Kedah and Negeri Sembilan, and 32 in Terengganu.

According to Abdul Ghani, a total of 9.77 million individuals are eligible to vote in the upcoming state elections, with 153,760 election officials appointed to facilitate.

He said the state elections are estimated to cost RM420 million.

This will be the first state elections for PH and BN as the unity government as well as the emergence of PN’s “green wave” in GE15.