Polling in KT begins (Updated 2.20pm)
42% voter turnout as off noon in festive atmosphere
by Danny Lim and Deborah Loh, The Nut Graph
Some 33,133 voters out of 79,194 have cast their votes in the Kuala Terengganu by-election as of noon today, the Election Commission (EC) said.
The voter turnout of 41.84% has “been satisfactory” said EC chairperson Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, who described the atmosphere on polling day as “berpesta”.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Indoor Stadium here, Abdul Aziz said the turnout for Saluran 1 and 2 – which caters to senior citizens – was more than 50%.
However, turnout for Saluran 3, 4 and 5, which usually caters for those 40-years-old and below, was low, about 25%.
The EC chairperson explained that voters in this group tend to cast their votes later in the day. He was hopeful of getting a total voter turnout of 90%.
Abdul Aziz also said the EC had not received any complaints so far of voting irregularities and denied opposition party allegations about phantom voters.
When asked about a report on the Malaysian for Free and Fair Election (Mafrel) website concerning a fight between PAS and Umno supporters at the polling station in Sekolah Kebangsaan Losong this morning, Abdul Aziz said he was not aware of any such incident.
The Mafrel report stated that four Federal Reserve Unit trucks and a helicopter were dispatched to the scene. There were no reports of arrests.
