GE15: Candidates with highest votes will still be declared winners despite withdrawal

KULIM: The candidates who garnered the highest votes in the Padang Serai parliamentary seat and the Tioman state seat in the 15th General Election (GE15) will still be declared the winners although they had announced their withdrawal.

Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said this was because their candidacies had been confirmed during the nomination day on Nov 24.

"We will still declare them as the winners, although they had announced their withdrawal. Candidates are only allowed to withdraw during the nomination process (between 9 am and 10 am).

"After 10 am, a candidate cannot withdraw because his nomination had been accepted," he told reporters after inspecting the polling process at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultan Badlishah here today.

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.

For the Padang Serai parliamentary seat, Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk C. Sivaraj and Warisan candidate Mohd Bakhri Hashim had announced their withdrawal from the election to give way for PH candidate Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak.

In Tioman, PH candidate Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly had announced that he would give way for BN candidate Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussien as a sign of respect for the Unity Government formed between both parties.

Meanwhile, the EC expects a voter turnout of between 60 and 75 per cent.

-- BERNAMA