What is drawing Serkam voters out early? A tight race and three very different candidates

Detailed summary

A three-way contest featuring a former aide to the Melaka chief minister, a silat instructor and a former university information technology chief could be ...

MELAKA, Nov 14 — A three-way contest featuring a former aide to the Melaka chief minister, a silat instructor and a former university information technology chief could be adding to the excitement in Serkam, which recorded the highest voter turnout among the state’s 28 constituencies today.

The Election Commission’s (EC) real-time Voter Turnout Monitoring dashboard showed that over 51 per cent of registered voters in N. 26 Serkam had cast their ballots as of 1pm, especially when contrasted against N. 22 Bandar Hilir’s 38.5 per cent.

The constituency had been leading the turnout the whole morning and the numbers are climbing fast.

The keen interest in Serkam comes amid a closely watched three-cornered contest between Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Azman Abdullah, Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Muhammad Faiq Azman and Parti Bersama Malaysia’s (Bersama) Muhamad Saffie Md Yasan.

All three are first-time candidates, but bring markedly different backgrounds and approaches to the race.

Azman, 54, is BN’s new face in the constituency but is no stranger to local politics, having spent more than a decade working alongside elected representatives and serving residents.

The Kampung Tedong native was a special officer to the Melaka chief minister from 2024 to 2026, and previously served as Tedong Umno chief and deputy Jasin Umno chief.

He has said his experience working with elected representatives had given him an understanding of residents’ needs and the problems they face.

His challengers offer different profiles, with Faiq, 36, bringing his experience as a silat instructor and involvement in community associations.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Malay Mail. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.