Kota kinabalu: The Election Commission (EC) has begun the process of opening postal ballot envelopes for the 17th Sabah State Election at several vote-tallying centres, ahead of the 5 pm deadline for receiving B envelopes today.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the process, streamed live on the EC’s Facebook page, marks the third of four key stages in postal vote management – issuance, receiving, opening, and finally, counting. A spokesperson for the Elections Academy stated that a total of 22,880 postal vote applications have been approved for this state election, covering categories 1A, 1B, and 1C. These categories include election officials such as EC personnel, media practitioners, security forces, polling-day workers, overseas voters, and individuals from listed agencies.

The EC’s live broadcast also showed the opening process being conducted at Dewan Jati, Sabah Agriculture Department, for two state seats – N53 Sekong and N54 Karamunting. For N53 Sekong, a total of 286 postal votes will be processed, comprising 265 category 1A votes, five category 1B votes, and 16 category 1C votes. Meanwhile, N54 Karamunting received 696 postal votes, consisting of 685 category 1A votes, three category 1B votes, and eight category 1C votes.

Today’s process was also assisted by Penang returning officers, and several candidate agents were present to observe the opening of the envelopes.