JOHOR BAHRU, July 11 — More than 709,000 voters, or 26.43 per cent of registered electors, had cast their ballots as of 11am today in the 16th Johor state election, Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun said.

Ramlan said the turnout figure was recorded after polling began at 8am across 1,076 polling centres involving 4,889 polling streams throughout the state.

The Johor state election sees more than 2.6 million registered voters casting their ballots to elect representatives for 56 State Legislative Assembly seats contested by 172 candidates.

Earlier, the EC recorded a voter turnout of 7.97 per cent, or 213,878 voters, as of 9am.

The voting process is proceeding smoothly, with voters continuing to arrive at polling centres across Johor to fulfil their civic responsibility.