SANDAKAN, May 11 — All 19 polling centres for the Sandakan Parliamentary by-election were closed at 5pm after having been opened at 7.30am.

According to the Election Commission (EC), 51 per of the voters turned out to cast their votes as of 4pm.

All the ballot boxes from 90 channels were taken to the counting centre at the Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan (SMJK) Tiong Hua Multi-purpose Activity Hall, Sandakan and the results were expected to be announced before 10 pm.

The five-corner contest was between Vivian Wong Shir Yee of DAP, Datuk Linda Tsen Thau Lin of PBS and three independents Sulaiman Abdul Samat, Hamzah Abdullah and Chia Siew Yung.

Wong and Sulaiman voted at Sekolah Kebangsaan Muhibbah, Chia at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Anib 1 while Tsen and Hamzah were not voters in the parliamentary area.

The Sandakan Parliament has two state seats, namely, Tanjong Papat and Elopura with 40,131 registered voters comprising 39,856 ordinary voters, five absentee voters as they were abroad and the rest were early voters.

Of the total voters, 51 per cent were Chinese, 45 per cent Muslim Bumiputera and the rest were those of other communities.

The by-election was held following the death of the incumbent Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt from a heart attack on March 28. Stephen was also the Sabah DAP chief. — Bernama