Malaysia: After two weeks of ferocious campaigning, Malaysians are voting in a hotly contested general election. Politicians have tried to win over millions of young people by adopting the Instagram and TikTok trends.

There are 6 million more voters than there were in the 2018 election and this is the first election following constitutional amendments that lowered the voting age to 18 and mandated voter registration. People under 40 are thought to make up the majority of the electorate for the first time ever.

More than 9,000 polling places will be open for 10 hours, but there are worries about voter turnout. In addition to massive flooding and the possibility of more rain, many voters are tired out after years of political fighting. In the past four years, the nation has had three different Prime Ministers after the administration that took office in 2018 fell in less than two years.

The current Prime Minister, Mr. Ismail Sabri Yaakob of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party, called a quick election in October to help his Barisan Nasional (National Front) alliance. The Prime Minister is competing with two other coalitions that are attempting to establish a government: Perikatan Nasional (National Alliance), led by the former Prime Minister Mr. Muhyiddin Yassin, and Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope), led by the reformist opposition leader Mr. Anwar Ibrahim.

After controlling Malaysian politics for many years, UMNO was defeated in the 2018 elections as a result of public outrage over the massive 1MDB financial scandal. A former Minister named Mr. Najib Razak was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison for 1MDB-related crimes.

Politicians embraced social media in their fight to win over first-time voters, with TikTok emerging as a new front in the fight for millennial votes. 1.4 million voters between the ages of 18 and 21 are now newly eligible out of the 21.1 million eligible voters overall.

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