ROMPIN, May 5 — Voting has ended in the Rompin by-election with all 32 polling centres closed at 5pm after opening at8 am today.
An Election Commission (EC) spokesman said four of the centres had closed at 2pm, namely three in Pulau Tioman which are Sekolah Kebangsaan Juara (171 voters), Balai Raya Kampung Genting (142) and Sekolah Kebangsaan Mukut (136).
The other was Sekolah Kebangsaan Denai in Kuala Rompin. This polling district has 170 voters.
Another polling centre in Pulau Tioman, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tekek (651 voters) closed at 3 pm while the one at Dewan Stesen Mardi, Muadzam Shah for the Bukit Ridan area near here, which has 312 voters, closed at 4pm.
The vote tallying will be done at Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah here.
He said so far, the EC had not received any complaint of provocation, insult or skirmish involving party supporters.
However, Abdul Aziz said he had asked the election security enforcement teams to take action by asking the supporters to observe the distance set by the EC.
“We could also take the next course of action by reporting the matter to the police if there are official complaints to the authorities. If the EC takes action, they will get angry with the EC,” he added.
The Rompin by-election is held to fill the vacancy following the death of incumbent MP, Tan Sri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis in a helicopter crash in Semenyih, Selangor on April 4.
As of 11am, a total of 24,438 or 46 per cent of the 52,744 electorate had exercised their right to vote, while 464 or 85.1 per cent of the 545 early voters voted on Thursday.
The results of the by-election will be known as early as 11pm.
On the granting of fare money by political parties for voters to return home to vote, Abdul Aziz said it was not encouraged although it was not against the law, for as long as it did not dictate which party should get the vote.
He said he had asked Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed if this could be considered bribery.
“If the fare money is given with the request that people return home to vote, without stating who to vote for, then it is not an offence.
“But if the money is given and the people are told which candidate to vote for, and there is proof that the person voted for the said candidate, then it is illegal,” he added.
Abdul Aziz was commenting on a claim in a media portal that there were political parties contesting in the by-election which gave fare money of between RM100 to RM300 to voters to return to Rompin to vote.
He added that it was difficult to prove the offence as bribery as votes were carried out in secrecy. — Bernama
