Voter guide

A plain-language guide to voting in Sarawak's state election and to the words used around it. It is a paraphrase of the Election Commission's own pages and regulations, with the sources listed at the foot of the page.

This guide is not legal advice. The Election Commission's announcements and the law itself are the authority. Where we could not check a fact in an official source, we left it out.

Who can vote, and how to check

To vote you must be a Malaysian citizen aged 18 or over, with a home address registered with the National Registration Department (JPN), and you must not be disqualified under the Federal Constitution.

Since 15 December 2021, eligible citizens are added to the electoral roll automatically from JPN records, so there is no separate application. Your voting constituency follows the address JPN holds for you.

The Election Commission runs an online service, MySPR Semak, where you can check that you are on the roll and see your polling centre and channel (saluran) once the election has been called.

MySPR Semak (Election Commission)

Sources: [1] [2] [3]

Key dates

Nomination: 28 November 2026
Early voting: 8 December 2026
Polling: 12 December 2026

Official SPR statement not yet located; dates are from news reports.

Nomination day

Candidates are nominated on nomination day (28 November 2026). A candidate is nominated with a nomination paper signed by a proposer and a seconder, who must be registered voters in the same constituency. The paper is handed to the Returning Officer at the nomination centre by the candidate, the proposer or the seconder, or any two or any one of them, between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning. The officer can refuse a paper handed in outside those hours or without the deposit receipt.

A candidate pays a deposit of RM5,000 for a state seat, by 10:00 am on nomination day. The deposit is lost if the candidate does not win more than one-eighth of the valid votes in the seat.

If only one valid candidate is nominated for a seat, the Returning Officer declares that candidate elected straight away and there is no vote in that seat.

Sources: [4] [5]

Campaigning and polling hours

Campaigning starts once the nomination proceedings on nomination day (28 November 2026) are completed, and must stop at midnight before polling day. Open-air talks need police permission.

The Election Commission's general guidance gives polling hours in Sarawak as 7:30 am to 5:30 pm, and says they may be shorter in some areas. Check the Commission's statement for this election before you go.

Sources: [6]

Early voting and postal voting

Early voting is for military and police personnel and the spouses of military and General Operations Force members. They vote at a set early voting centre and not on ordinary polling day. The reported early voting date is 8 December 2026.

Postal voting is limited to certain groups, such as election officers and workers, police and military who are on duty, journalists covering the election outside their own registration area, staff of certain agencies on duty on polling day, and Malaysians overseas. For this election the Commission groups postal voters as categories 1A, 1B and 1C and takes applications through a MySPR account.

Other voters vote in person on polling day. Check the Commission's announcement for application deadlines.

Sources: [2] [7]

On polling day

Polling day is 12 December 2026. Find your polling centre and channel number beforehand. Take your identity document; the Commission's own guide says which documents it accepts, so check it before you go.

At your channel your name and number are called from the roll. Your left index finger is checked, and if it has no indelible ink it is marked before you are given a ballot paper. Each voter gets one ballot paper and one vote.

You mark one cross (X) for one candidate. The Regulations include rules to protect the secrecy of the ballot.

Sources: [2] [4]

Spoilt and rejected ballot papers

A spoilt paper is one you damage by accident before you cast it. If the presiding officer is satisfied it was an accident, you can hand it back and get a replacement.

A rejected paper is one that is not counted when the votes are counted. The Regulations allow rejection only if the paper lacks the official mark, shows votes for more than one candidate, carries writing or a mark that could identify the voter, is unmarked or marked in the wrong place or way, or does not clearly show the voter's intention. A mark that clearly shows intention is not rejected just because the instructions were not followed exactly.

Sources: [4]

How a seat is won

Each seat elects one member. The Returning Officer declares elected the candidate with the most votes, after the official tally. A candidate does not need more than half of the votes.

If two candidates have exactly equal votes and one more vote would decide the result, the winner is chosen by drawing lots in front of the Returning Officer.

The assembly has 82 seats, so more than half is 42 seats. This is simple arithmetic. How a government is formed from the result is not covered in this guide.

Sources: [4] [6]

Counting, declarations and recounts

Votes are counted at each polling channel. The results go to the Returning Officer, who adds the postal votes, carries out the official tally and declares the winner. The result is then published in the Gazette.

A candidate, election agent or counting agent can ask for one recount at the polling station, before the count is announced, if the gap between first and second place is 4 percent or less of the votes cast. After the official tally they can also ask the Returning Officer to re-add the recorded totals; the officer may decline if the request is unreasonable.

Results on this site, when they appear, are unofficial. The Returning Officer's declaration for each seat is the official result.

Sources: [6] [4]

What the State Legislative Assembly does

This section is not written yet. It needs the text of the State Constitution and the assembly's own pages, which we could not read from an official source. We would rather leave it empty than guess.

Glossary

By-election: An election held to fill a single seat that has become vacant during the assembly's term. [6]
Constituency or seat: An area that elects one member to the assembly. Sarawak has 82 for this election. [4]
Deposit: Money a candidate pays by 10:00 am on nomination day: RM5,000 for a state seat. It is lost if the candidate wins no more than one-eighth of the valid votes. [4]
Dissolution: The ending of the assembly's term, early or at its expiry, which leads to a general election. [6]
DUN (Dewan Undangan Negeri): The State Legislative Assembly, the name the Election Commission uses for the body this election chooses. [2]
Early voting: Voting before polling day, at a set centre, by military and police personnel and some of their spouses. [2]
Electoral roll: The list of registered voters used on polling day. [1]
Majority (in a seat): On this site, the gap between the winner's votes and the runner-up's votes. A seat is won by the most votes, not by more than half. [4]
Nomination: The formal entry of a candidate, with a nomination paper, a proposer and a seconder, on nomination day. [4]
Postal voting: Voting by post for certain groups of voters who cannot vote in person on polling day. [2] [7]
Presiding officer: The official who runs a polling centre and counts the votes there. [4]
Rejected ballot paper: A ballot paper that is not counted at the count because it breaks one of the rules in the Regulations. [4]
Returning Officer: The official who receives nominations, declares an unopposed candidate elected, carries out the official tally and declares the winner. [4]
Spoilt ballot paper: A paper a voter damages by accident before casting it, which can be handed back and replaced. [4]
Uncontested seat (walkover): A seat where only one valid candidate is nominated; that candidate is declared elected at once and there is no vote. [4]

Sources

All are official Election Commission pages or regulations, read on the date shown. We link to them and paraphrase them; we do not copy their text.

Pendaftaran Pemilih (voter eligibility and registration), Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR) (accessed 9 November 2026)
Perjalanan Pilihan Raya: Pemilih (voter journey), Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR), 31 October 2026 (accessed 9 November 2026)
MySPR Semak (voter and polling centre check), Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR) (accessed 9 November 2026)
Peraturan-Peraturan Pilihan Raya (Penjalanan Pilihan Raya) 1981 [P.U.(A) 386/1981] (Election (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981), consolidated with 2024 amendments, Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR) (accessed 9 November 2026)
Calon (candidates), Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR) (accessed 9 November 2026)
Perjalanan Pilihan Raya Umum (election process), Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR) (accessed 9 November 2026)
Permohonan Undi Pos bagi PRU DUN Sarawak Ke-13 (postal vote applications), Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR), 26 October 2026 (accessed 9 November 2026)