KUALA LUMPUR: The early voting process for the 15th General Election (GE15) for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat in Kedah and the Tioman state seat in Pahang for members of the security forces and their spouses will be held today.
An early voting centre with two polling channels will open at 8am for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat, and two voting centres with two channels for the Tioman state seat.
Based on the electoral roll used for the elections, there are 76 and 262 early voters, comprising members of the police force and their spouses, for the Padang Serai and Tioman seats respectively.
The Election Commission (EC) recommends the electors and all those involved in the early voting process wear face masks, maintain physical distance and always sanitise their hands.
Polling for GE15 in both constituencies was postponed following the deaths of the candidates vying for the seats – M. Karupaiya of Pakatan Harapan (PH) for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat and Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Md Yunus Ramli for the Tioman state seat.
The EC has set Dec 7 as the polling day. Nomination was held on Nov 24.
The contest for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat will see a four-cornered fight among Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak, Datuk Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional), Pejuang’s Hamzah Abd Rahman and Independent candidate Sreanandha Rao.
Warisan had announced that it would not participate in the election, but the party logo would still appear on the ballot paper, as it had already been registered as one of the competing parties.
Meanwhile, the Tioman state seat will also witness a four-cornered fight among PN candidate Nor Idayu Hashim, Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussain (BN), Osman Bakar (Pejuang) and Independent Sulaiman Bakar.
Pakatan’s candidate, Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly, will be 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 are accepted.
The GE15 on Nov 19 ended with PH obtaining 82 seats, followed by PN (73), BN (30), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (22), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (six), Warisan (three), Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) and Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) (one each), and the independents, two. — Bernama
