PONTIAN, Nov 12 — The early voting for the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election was completed today 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 Pontian Police headquarters as soon as they were opened at 8am.
The polling channel for 21 voters in 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 serving outside the constituency and 14 others who have retired from the service.
Meanwhile, Pontian Police chief Supt Mustafa Bakri Salleh, when contacted, said that all the boxes containing the ballots would be kept at the Pontian Police Station lockup before being taken to the vote-tallying centre at the Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim for counting after the completion of the polling process on November 16.
He said no untoward incident was reported during the early voting process.
Earlier, a Bernama check showed that voting ran smoothly amid good weather and that 10 police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order.
The voting process was being conducted under the watchful eyes of EC observers and agents of the candidates.
Five of the six candidates also visited the polling centre, with Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Seri 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 (PH) 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 Ang Chuan Lock at 2.30pm.
The Tanjung Piai by-election was called following the death of incumbent MP Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, of PH on September 21 due to heart complications. Polling is on Saturday. — Bernama
