{
  "id": 19918192,
  "title": "Women outpace men at ballot boxes in Melaka polls",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/14/women-outpace-men-at-ballot-boxes-in-melaka-polls",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-14T04:34:44.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2026/11/1577348/women-outpace-men-ballot-boxes-melaka-polls"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the 16th Melaka state election, women voters outpaced men in turnout, with 31 per cent of women having cast their ballots by 11.30am. The Election Commission (EC) chairman, Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun, highlighted that the real-time voter attendance tracking system enabled officials to monitor turnout by gender and other categories across all 240 polling centres. As of 11.30am, overall voter turnout stood at 31.07 per cent, up from 17.96 per cent at 10am. Ramlan expressed optimism about achieving the EC's target of 70 to 75 per cent overall turnout before the polls close at 6pm. He urged voters to come out early due to rain forecasts this afternoon. The election, called after the dissolution of the state legislative assembly on Sept 23, was contested by 79 candidates for 28 seats, requiring a simple majority of 15. Registration totaled 687,697 voters, including 675,166 ordinary voters for today's election and 2,614 who voted by post. Early voting on Nov 10 saw a 94.96 per cent turnout, with 9,417 of 9,917 eligible voters casting their ballots at 31 polling centres.",
  "summary": "MELAKA: Female voters recorded a higher turnout than men in the 16th Melaka state election, with 31 per cent of women having cast their ballots as of 11.30am today.",
  "key_points": [
    "Women outpaced men in turnout by 31% in Melaka polls",
    "Real-time tracking system monitored gender-specific turnout",
    "Election aimed for 70-75% overall turnout before 6pm deadline"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Higher female participation in the early hours of the Melaka polls demonstrates how real-time tracking allows officials to monitor gender-specific engagement as the state moves toward its turnout targets.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}