SEMPORNA, Sept 26 — Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal cast his ballot at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bubul here at 8.16 am today in the 16th Sabah state election.

Mohd Shafie, who is defending the Senallang seat, arrived at the polling centre at 8.06am, together with his wife, Datin Seri Suriyani Shuib.

Speaking to reporters later, Mohd Shafie said he was satisfied with the voting process at the Polling District Centre.

"Polling this morning has been proceeding smoothly in accordance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) set. As usual, I hope the voter turnout will hit the targeted percentage,” he added.

Mohd Shafie is being challenged by four other candidates — Norazman Utoh Nain (Perikatan Nasional), who is his nephew, D Pg Ahmad Datu Ali Alam (PPRS), Mohammad Ramzan Abdul Wahab (USNO) and Madjalis Lais (PCS).

Senallang has 14,336 voters and is one of the three state seats under the Semporna parliamentary constituency, which is represented by Mohd Shafie. The other two state seats in the constituency are Bugaya (20,267 voters) and Sulabayan (14,012 voters). — Bernama