Almost 100pc turnout of early voters
PONTIAN: The early voting for the Tanjung Piai parliamentary byelection was completed yesterday with almost 100 per cent turnout of the 280 early voters.
The Election Commission’s (EC) record showed that 91 per cent of the early voters had cast their votes at the two polling channels at the Perkep building of the district police headquarters here as soon as they were opened at 8am.
The polling channel for 21 voters in the Pekan
Nanas state constituency was closed at 1pm, while the polling channel for 259 voters in Kukup was closed at 5pm.
The early voters for the Tanjung Piai by-election comprised 210 police officers and personnel in Kukup, 18 in Pekan Nanas, 38 who are serving outside the constituency and 14 others who have retired from the service.
Pontian police chief Superintendent Mustafa Bakri Salleh said all ballot boxes would be kept at the Pontian police station before they were taken to the tallying centre at Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim after the polls on Nov 16.
He said no untoward incident was reported during the early voting.
Earlier, a Bernama check showed that voting ran smoothly amid good weather and that 10 police personnel had been deployed to maintain law and order.
The voting process was conducted under the watchful eyes of EC observers and the candidates’ agents.
The six candidates visited the polling centre, with Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng being the first to arrive just minutes before it was opened, followed by Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam at 8.03am, Pakatan Harapan’s Karmaine Sardini at 8.20am, independent candidate Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar at 10.10am, Berjasa’s Datuk Dr Badrulhisham Abdul Aziz at 10.15am and another independent candidate, Dr Ang Chuan Lock, at 2.30pm.
The Tanjung Piai by-election was called following the death of incumbent member of parliament Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, of PH on Sept 21 due to heart complications. Polling is on Saturday.