PETALING JAYA: It’s now game time for the Melaka polls, with candidates officially throwing their hats into the ring for the state's 28 seats.
All 79 candidates will begin wooing voters in the two-week campaigning period in the battle for the state, before polling day on Nov 14.
Pakatan Harapan will contest 24 seats, while Barisan Nasional will contest in 23 seats, based on the Election Commission's (EC) official list of nominated candidates on its website.
Perikatan Nasional has fielded candidates for a total of five seats.
Also joining in the fray are Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), which is contesting seven seats, and Bersama which has fielded 16 candidates.
A total of three independent candidates have entered the race, while there was one candidate from Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra), contesting the Gadek seat.
Here is the full list of candidates in the state polls:
The polls will see various multi-cornered contests, namely seats with three or more candidates.
The biggest type of multi-cornered fights in the state will be four-way contests in six constituencies, namely Gadek, Kelebang, Pengkalan Batu, Ayer Keroh, Bukit Katil and Bemban.
The graphic below provides a breakdown of the contests across all constituencies.
Larger circles indicate seats with a higher number of candidates.
Among the 28 state seats, straight fights and three-way contests are the most common.
Straight fights, or contests with two candidates, made up 11 out of the 28 seats in the state.
Another 11 seats will see three-cornered fights among candidates.
Check out the breakdown of such contests in the graphic below:
Before the state assembly was dissolved, Barisan Nasional formed the majority with 21 seats, followed by Pakatan’s five seats.
The remaining two seats were occupied by Perikatan Nasional.
The chart below shows the composition of the state assembly based on the results of the last state polls, followed by a list of the incumbents.
The following are the parties and coalitions contesting in the state election:
