More than half a million Singaporeans had cast their vote in the 2015 General Election by 10am on Friday (Sept 11).

In a statement, the Elections Department said: "As of 10am, 532,590 Singaporeans have turned up to cast votes at the 832 polling stations islandwide."

Singaporeans headed to polling stations early.

There were orderly queues at several polling stations at 8am as Singaporeans queued up to cast their vote.

As many as 2.46 million Singaporeans across the island are expected to vote by 8pm in the first general election in 50 years where every single seat is contested.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived at noon with his wife, Ms Ho Ching, to vote at Alexandra Primary School.

He told The Straits Times: "I feel good, everything is running smoothly. The voters are well taken care of, the old folks, the young, ones with young children."

Half an hour later, President Tony Tan and his wife Mary were seen casting their votes at Nanyang Girls' High School.

A total of eight opposition parties are challenging the ruling People's Action Party in this election.

Singaporeans will pick 89 Members of Parliament for 16 group representation constituencies (GRCs) and 13 single-member constituencies (SMCs).

The 832 stations where Singaporeans can cast their votes will be open for 12 hours today, from 8am to 8pm. No ballot papers will be issued after polling closes. Some of the 4,868 eligible Singaporean voters abroad were able to cast their vote as early as Thursday (Sept 10).

Voters can vote only at the polling station stated on their poll card. They should avoid going to their polling station during the morning peak period as they may have to wait longer to cast their votes.

They must bring their poll card and their identity card or Singapore passport.

After polling closes, the public and supporters of the political parties can gather at four assembly centres to wait for the announcement of the election results.

The People's Action Party, which is contesting all 89 seats, has three assembly centres at Toa Payoh Stadium, Jurong West Stadium and Bedok Stadium. The Workers' Party, which is contesting 28 seats, has one at Hougang Stadium.

The centres will be open from 8pm tonight until 30 minutes after the announcement of the last result of the elections.

For the first time, the Elections Department will first reveal "sample count" results for each of the 16 group representation constituencies and 13 single-seat wards.

A hundred ballot papers from each polling stations will be randomly chosen by a counting assistant in the presence of the candidates and their counting agents.

The votes will be added up and weighted accordingly to account for the difference in the number of votes cast at each polling station. The sample count for each constituency will be shown as a percentage of the valid votes earned by the candidates.

Sample counts are generally about 95 per cent accurate, plus or minus four percentage points. The first sample count results will probably come from the single-seat wards where there are fewer voters and could be released from about 10pm.

(The Straits Times)