(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-08 19:15

KUALA LUMPUR - The voting of the 12th general election ended at most places in Malaysia at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and election officials said that the process finished smoothly.

Malaysian Election Commission (EC) secretary Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor said that all the authorities involved in the election work have performed excellent jobs.

This is the best election these years, all the polling stations operated smoothly and were under control and voters abided by the rules and regulations stipulated by the EC, said Noor.

A polling station at a school near the Titiwangsa Park here closed at 5:00 p.m. as scheduled, no voters were seen going in or out at the moment.

Some workers at an operation station near the polling station said that the voting atmosphere there was peaceful throughout the day and an estimate of 70 percent of the voters in the area came to the polling station.

In the Permatang Pauh polling station in the state of Penang, Mr. Nurdin, an election official in charge there, said that the election process went on smoothly and under control, despite the rain there.

About 58 percent of the 10.92 million voters have cast their votes nationwide as of 3:00 p.m., Kamaruzaman said.

In the state of Selangor, 62.78 percent of the voters had exercised their rights as of 2:00, he said.

Kamaruzaman also said the EC Saturday had fixed the polling schedules on Sunday for three locations affected in the mobile voting in the Hulu Rajang parliamentary seat after a boat ferrying ballot boxes capsized in Sarawak.