Even voters with disabilities did not want to be left out as they were eager to fulfil their responsibility as Malaysians to elect the next government.

Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) candidate Willie Mongin had a little panic attack when he was unable to find his identity card when he was about to vote at Chung Hua school at Batu 15, Puncak Borneo, about 25 kilometres from here.

Mongin, 47, who is seeking re-election in the Puncak Borneo seat, said he arrived at the polling centre at 8.25am.

“When I was about to check my name, I panicked as my identity card was not in my pocket nor my wallet. I stepped out of the queue. Fortunately I found it in the car…so I had to line up all over again,” he said.

First-time voter Danial Harish Mahmud, 20, who has autism, was excited to cast his vote at the Dewan Serbaguna Kapsel Kampung Panglima Seman Lama, arriving as early as 7am, although the polling centre only opened half an hour later.

Accompanied by his father, Mahmud Sabli, 58, Danial looked relaxed as he belted out the song ‘Cinta Untuk Nabila’ by Melissa, a ’90s rock group, while waiting for his turn to vote, not realising he was queuing in the wrong line.

Mahmud said initially Danial was the first person to queue in the third channel which was reserved for first-time voters, but when the EC staff rechecked, his son was registered under the first channel which was reserved for the disabled.

“Therefore, we had to rush to the channel,” said Mahmud.

For former military personnel, Anis Salleh, 72, who has been visually impaired since the age of 28, he does not want to miss the opportunity as he has never failed to vote since 1974.

Voters in Limbang and Baram, in the north of Sarawak, were confronted with the latest episode of flooding in the state with four polling stations being inundated.

However, the Sarawak police and Malaysian fire and rescue department reported that the floods did not affect the voting process in the areas involved.