TANAH RATA, Jan 22 — The ballot boxes containing the papers for early voting today in the Cameron Highlands parliamentary by-election are in safekeeping at the Brinchang police station lockup, said Cameron Highlands District Police chief DSP Ashari Abu Samah.
He said the ballot boxes were from the early voting conducted today at the Sungai Koyan and Brinchang police stations.
Eight-seven per cent or 216 of the 247 people eligible for early voting went to the polls today, according to the Election Commission (EC).
The early voting ended at 2pm at the Sungai Koyan police station after 13 of the 15 voters cast their votes.
A police source said the two who did not turn up had retired as policemen and now lived in Kuantan, Pahang, and Bachok, Kelantan.
The early voting at the Brinchang police station closed at 5pm.
Asked about the 87 per cent voter turnout, Ashari said many of the voters who did not turn up had retired.
“Some of them are living elsewhere in the country, some are ailing, some are in hospitals and some can only move about in wheelchairs,” he said.
Up to 32,009 people are eligible to vote in this by-election, 247 of whom are early voters and 12 absentee voters.
The by-election is a four-cornered contest among M. Manogaran of Pakatan Harapan (PH), Ramli Mohd Nor of Barisan Nasional (BN) and two independents, former Aminuddin Baki Institute lecturer Sallehudin Ab Talib and farmer Wong Seng Yee.
It is being held after the Election Court on November 30 last year annulled the victory of Datuk C. Sivarraajh of the BN in the 14th general election due to vote-buying. — Bernama
