Today is polling day for the Slim state by-election and it is conducted under the new normal circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 22,749 people are eligible to vote at the 12 polling stations which will open from 8 am to 5.30 pm today.

Besides the 22,749 ordinary voters, the electoral roll for the Slim state constituency also include 267 early voters and 78 postal voters.

The 12 polling centres for the Slim by-election are at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Changkat Sulaiman; SK Trolak Utara; SK Trolak Selatan; SK Seri Besout; SK Besout 3 and 5; SK Kuala Slim; SK Slim River; SK Aminudin Baki; Ladang Sungkai Tamil National Type School (SJKT); SJKT Ladang Kelapa Bali and SJKT Trolak.

The Slim by-election is the 12th by-election held after the 14th General Election (GE14) and the second to be conducted in compliance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after the Chini by-election on July 4.

Throughout the voting process, voters are required to observe the prescribed standard operating procedures (SOP), such as physical distancing, wearing face mask, use of hand sanitisers and to scan their body temperature.

The by-election is a three-cornered fight among Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Mohd Zaidi Aziz and two Independent candidates -- lawyer Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi, who is representing the yet-to-be registered Parti Pejuang Tanahair (Pejuang), and former teacher, S. Santharasekaran.

However, none of the candidates are registered voters for the Slim constituency.

The by-election is called following the death of its four-term assemblyman Datuk Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib, of BN, from a heart attack, last July 15.

Early voting was held last Tuesday, with 96.25 per cent of the 267 early voters having exercised their rights.

In the 14th General Election, Mohd Khusairi defended the state seat with a majority of 2,183 votes by defeating Mohd Amran Ibrahim from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), who contested under the PKR ticket, and Muhammad Zulfadli Zainal of PAS.

Perak has 59 state seats and out of the total, Perikatan Nasional (PN) has 33 seats, comprising BN with 25 seats, all by UMNO; Bersatu (five), PAS (three), DAP (16), Amanah (five), PKR (three) and Independent (one).