(Kuala Lumpur) – Malaysian polling centres opened for the country’s first election in history with a change of government at stake, as a decades-old regime battles to hold off a reform-minded opposition. Polling centres opened at 8:00 am after a bitter campaign marked by numerous opposition accusations of electoral cheating and irregularities. Polling stations close at 5:00 pm with results expected to begin rolling out within hours.
Incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak has voiced confidence that the National Front coalition will remain Malaysia’s dominant political force despite facing its most unified opposition challenge since independence from Britain in 1957.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s three-party alliance hopes widespread grievances over how the National Front has struggled with accusations of arrogance, abuse of public funds and racial discrimination will translate into a surge of votes to propel the opposition into power.
Many of Malaysia’s 13.3 million registered voters lined up at schools and other voting centers to cast their ballots early, showing off fingers marked with ink to prevent multiple voting after they had finished.
