The 15th Malaysian general election (GE15) is in its final hour as we speak, having kicked off at 8am in Peninsular Malaysia (7:30am in Sabah and Sarawak). While many will have already cast their ballots (including most of our staff) by noon, there are still several more minutes to go before polling stations begin to close at 6pm in the peninsula and 5:30pm in East Malaysia.
After that, the Election Commission will begin counting the votes, with the entire country at the edge of their seats waiting for the results. If you’re one of those people, you’ll be wondering where you can get live updates as they come in, and you’ll be able to do so through Malaysia’s self-proclaimed #1 news aggregator, Newswav.
Modelled after similar results sites from past elections, Newswav’s GE15 page lists a breakdown of the number of seats won by each party at both parliament and state (DUN) level. For those more visually inclined, there’s also a map view that shows which party has captured each state, in an easy-to-follow colour-coded format.
If you’re still deciding who to vote for, Newswav includes a rolling members of parliament (MP) roster by MyMP, which tracks the performance of each MP. Clicking on each person brings you to their dedicated MYMP page, revealing stats like their attendance in parliament sittings. As befits a news aggregator, Newswav provides the latest GE15 news at the bottom, derived from the usual sources as well as alternative news sites like World of Buzz and Siakap Keli and more partisan sources such as Selangorkini.
Another results page is MyUndi, created by New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro owner Media Prima. This website also tracks parliamentary seats won by each party, along with the seats of each state. It also syndicates news from the three aforementioned papers.
Where to catch the news
By far the easiest way to get GE15 news comes from Astro Awani (mostly in Malay), which is providing 24/7 reporting of the elections. As the name suggests, this news channel typically requires an Astro subscription, but for one day only, it is holding a live broadcast for free on YouTube, which you can watch above.
If you prefer your news from terrestrial channels, TV1 (again in Malay) is currently covering the elections live, while TV3 will broadcast the counting of votes after 6pm. For live coverage in English, you can check out the business radio station BFM, available on 89.9FM and through the official app on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. It will also provide live coverage of the vote counting on YouTube after 6pm, the video for which is embedded below.
As usual, Malaysia’s major newspapers and portals are out in full force for GE15, many of which have dedicated live blogs. These include:
- Malay Mail
- The Star
- New Straits Times
- The Sun
- Malaysiakini (the entire site is offering free access today)
- The Edge
- Free Malaysia Today
- Bernama
- Berita Harian
- Sinar Harian
- Utusan Malaysia
- Sin Chew Daily
- Nanyang Siang Pau
- China Press
- Oriental Daily
