PONTIAN, Nov 12 — One polling centre was opened at 8am today to facilitate early voting for 280 police personnel in the Tanjung Piai by-election.

The parliamentary seat has two state constituencies namely Pekan Nanas and Kukup.

The polling centre with two voting streams is at Bangunan Persatuan Keluarga Polis (Perkep), Pontian police headquarters (IPD) here.

The first, for early voters from the Pekan Nanas  state constituency, closes at 1pm while the second, catering to voters for the Kukup state constituency, shuts at 5pm.

The candidates' polling agents and election observers are allowed to witness the early voting process.

The Election Commission will also be streaming "live” the early voting process via its official Facebook site.

All ballot boxes used for the early voting will be kept secure at  the lock up of the IPD.

Counting of the votes will be done on polling day on Nov 16 at the vote tallying centre at the Meeting Room, Pontian District Office before polling agents and election observers.

This by-election was called following the death of the incumbent  Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, from Pakatan Harapan (PH) last Sept 21 due to heart complications.

The contest is a six-cornered fight involving PH candidate Karmaine Sardini, Barisan Nasional represented by Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng; Wendy Subramaniam (Gerakan), Datuk Dr Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz (president of Barisan Jemaah Islamiah) and two independent candidates, Dr Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abdul Ghaffar.

Besides the 280 early voters, the electoral roll for the Parliamentary seat has 52,698 ordinary voters and eight absentee voters (who are abroad). — Bernama