Lower voter turnout for Kuala Terengganu by-election

(The Star) – The unofficial voter turnout figure for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election is 79.73%.

This is lower than the expected turnout of over 90% that was projected by the Election Commission before the start of polling at 8am Saturday.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof said the figure was based on the number of ballot papers issued at all 36 polling centres and was not considered official until the actual tallying had been completed.

He said based on the EC’s analysis, Sekolah Kebangsaan Tengku Bariah registered the highest number of voters at 91.72% , with 2,845 of the total 3,102 registered voters voting there.

SK Paya Baru showed the lowest voter turnout at 61.81% or 1,429 of the total of 2,312 registered voters.

”The lower turnout is probably due to the fact that this by-election is being held close to the Chinese New Year holidays.

”However, based on previous experiences, turnouts for by-elections have always been lower than during a general election,” he told reporters at the tallying centre.