Sungai Limau by-election: 17 polling centres open at 8am

Seventeen polling centres in the Sungai Limau constituency opened at 8am today to enable 27,222 registered voters to cast their votes in the by-election for the state seat.

The polling centres are Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Permatang Buloh, SK Sungai Dedap, Sekolah Menengah Agama Nahdzah, SK Bukit Besar, SK Simpang Tiga Sungai Daun, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Aik Min, SK Haji Kassim Jasin, SK Sungai Daun Tengah, SK Sungai Limau, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Sungai Limau, SK Sungai Kering, SK Ulu Sedaka, SMK Batu 17, Padang Lumat, SK Padang Lumat, SJKC Pei Hwa Batu 17, Gurun, SK Dulang and SMK Dulang.

They will close at 5pm and counting of votes will start at 6pm at the vote tallying centre, Dewan Lukman Al-Hakim, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Yan.

The by-election will be a straight fight between Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Dr Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim and PAS candidate Mohd Azam Abdul Samat.

The Sungai Limau state seat fell vacant following the death on Sept 26, of the incumbent Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak, who was the elected representative for the constituency since 1995.

Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh was reported to have said that more than 90 per cent of voters were expected to turn out to vote today, compared to 89 per cent in the 13th General Election (GE13) in May.

He said this was reflected in the family spirit demonstrated by the residents during campaigning.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said yesterday that the result of the by-election was expected to be announced at 9pm today.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Meteorological Department has forecast no rain in the morning today but thunderstorms were expected in the evening.

In the GE13, Azizan won with a 2,774-vote majority in a four-cornered contest.