PONTIAN: Early voting in the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election has recorded a voter turnout of 82 per cent as of 1pm today.
Voting is being held at Bangunan Perkep at the Pontian district police headquarters here from 8am to 5pm.
Two polling streams were opened by the Election Commission (EC), for the Kukup and Pekan Nanas state constituencies, for 280 police officers and rank-and-file personnel to cast their ballots.
However, the Pekan Nanas stream was officially closed at 1pm while voting is still going on at the Kukup stream.
The 280 eligible voters include 210 personnel serving in Kukup and 18 in Pekan Nanas, the two state constituencies which make up the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat.
A total of 38 voters are serving outside the district while 14 have retired from service.
A Bernama check showed that voting was proceeding 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 Dr Wee Jeck Seng being the first to arrive, just minutes before it was opened at 8am.
He was 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 and Berjasa’s Datuk Dr Badrulhisham Abdul Aziz at 10.15am. Another independent candidate, Dr Ang Chuan Lock, has yet to turn up at the polling centre.
The Tanjung Piai by-election is the ninth to be held after the 14th general election on May 9, 2018, with the first being the Sungai Kandis state by-election in Selangor on Aug 4 last year.
The Tanjung Piai by-election was called following the death of incumbent MP Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, of PH on Sept 21 due to heart complications. Polling is on Saturday.
— BERNAMA
