PONTIAN: Two candidates contesting in the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election fulfilled their responsibility as registered voters in the constituency by being among the first to cast their votes today.
Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Karmaine Sardini arrived at the polling centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Telok Kerang, near here, at about 7.45am.
On arrival, Karmaine entered the school building and headed to polling stream 2 to cast his ballot.
When met by reporters later, Karmaine said he is getting nervous waiting for the result, which will be announced tonight.
Meanwhile, Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng arrived at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Yu Ming 1 and 2 in Pekan Nanas at 7.40am to cast his vote.
He was accompanied by his wife, Datin Seri Lim Joo Hon, who is also a registered voter in Tanjung Piai.
There are 52,471 registered voters in the Tanjung Piai parliamentary constituency.
The by-election is called following the heart attack death of incumbent MP Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik on Sept 21.
Besides Karmaine and Wee, four other candidates contesting for the seat are Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam, Berjasa’s Datuk Dr Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz and two Independent candidates – Dr Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar. None of the four is a registered voter in Tanjung Piai.
Last Tuesday, 91 per cent of 280 early voters, comprising police personnel, cast their votes at the Perkep building of the Pontian district police headquarters.
A total of 27 polling centres with 125 streams are now open until 5.30pm today for the by-election.
Of the 27 polling centres, 11 are in the Pekan Nanas state constituency and 16 in the Kukup state constituency. – BERNAMA