KOTA KINABALU: Stormy weather has delayed the delivery of ballot boxes and other election materials to a remote polling district in the Beluran constituency on the east coast of Sabah.

Sabah Election Commission director Md Idrus Ismail said that the helicopter could not take off to the Abuan polling district, which had 312 voters, due to strong winds and heavy rains Friday evening.

Abuan is in the Beluran constituency.

"It is a minor problem, we hope to send the ballot boxes by 6.30am Saturday if the weather permits," he said, adding that the EC did not face any other problems even though weather conditions over most of Sabah remained bad.

Idrus said some 12,000 election officials have been deployed for the elections in Sabah and Labuan FT and the EC has hired 20 helicopters to send election materials to various polling district at a cost RM11.2mil.

"The smooth process of elections would depend on the weather conditions as certain interior areas may be affected," he said, urging voters to come out early to cast their votes on Saturday.