EC targets 60-75pc voter turn up for Padang Serai and Tioman polls, official results by 10pm

 

Some voters fulfill their voting responsibility for the 15th General Election at Sekolah Bukit Selarong, Padang Serai. - NSTP/LUQMAN HAKIM ZUBIR

KULIM: The Election Commission (EC) hopes to achieve between 60 to 75 per cent voter turn up for Padang Serai parliamentary and Tioman state seat polls in the 15th General Election (GE15) today.

Its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said the target was reasonable given that the polling day was held during the working day.

"We understand that many of the electoral in Padang Serai are working in the manufacturing sector and most of them are working today.

"We wish to seek the cooperation from employers to give some leeway for their workers to carry out their democratic rights today," he told reporters after inspecting the polling process at SMK Badlishah, one of the 46 polling centers for the Padang Serai parliamentary election.

He said as at 9am, the voter turn up was recorded at 9 per cent after the polling centers were opened at 8am today.

Meanwhile, Abdul Ghani said the results for both polls would be announced the latest by 10pm today.

"InsyaAllah, we hope the official results for both seats will be known latest by 10pm tonight," he said.

There are more than 160,000 eligible voters in both Padang Serai and Tioman seats.

This comprised of 132,955 voters in Padang Serai, and 28,108 others in Tioman.

Voters line up before fulfilling their responsibility to vote, during a poll in SK Pontian, in conjunction with the GE15 DUN Tioman. - NSTP/FARIZUL HAFIZ AWANG

A total of 46 polling centres with 230 voting streams in Padang Serai, and 17 polling centres with 52 voting streams in Tioman will open from 8am to 6pm.

Polling for the two seats could not be held simultaneously with the GE15 following the death of the candidates, namely M. Karupaiya of Pakatan Harapan (PH) for Padang Serai and Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Md. Yunus Ramli for Tioman.

Karupaiya, 69, died on Nov 16, due to a heart attack while Md Yunus, 61, died on the polling day for the GE15 on Nov 19.

The contest for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat will see a six-cornered fight among Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak, Datuk C. Sivaraajh (Barisan Nasional), Datuk Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional) and Hamzah Abd Rahman (Pejuang).

The other two contenders are Mohd Bakhri Hashim, representing Warisan, and independent candidate Sreanandha Rao. However, last Dec 2, BN agreed to give way to PH for the parliamentary seat.

Meanwhile, the Tioman state seat will witness a five-cornered fight that included PN candidate Nor Idayu Hashim, Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussain (BN), Osman A Bakar (Pejuang), Sulaiman Bakar (Independent).

The other candidate, Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly, of PH, is making way for the BN candidate to increase the latter's chances of winning, but his (Mohd Fadzli) name will still be on the ballot papers.

According to the EC, the status of the candidates cannot be changed after their nominations were accepted. - NST