Sungai Limau: Voters cast their votes early to avoid rain

Mother nature cooperated as people turned out in droves to cast their ballots for the Sungai Limau by-election Monday.

A quick check by Astro AWANI at the SK Bukit Besar, Kota Sarang Semut polling centre, about 25km from Yan saw voters coming out as early as 8am. Seventeen polling centres in the Sungai Limau constituency opened at 8am to enable 27,222 registered voters to cast their votes in the by-election for the state seat.

PAS candidate, Mohd Azam Abd Samat, 37, arrived at 8.30am to cast his vote while accompanied by his wife, Taqhiyah Ismail, 32.

"The weather seems to be clear this morning, although it is expected to rain from noon onwards today. Even so, I hope the voting process will proceed smoothly and that PAS will retain the seat," Mohd Azam said when met this morning.

Supporters of both camps were also seen lined up on either side of the road leading up to the polling centre, canvassing for votes, adding a carnival-like atmosphere to the area.

Around 9.15am, UMNO vice president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal arrived at the centre accompanied by Jerlun MP Datuk Othman Aziz amid cheers of "Allahuabkbar" (God is great) by PAS supporters.

Also seen in the midst were PAS by-election operational director Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah and former PAS Kuala Selangor MP Datuk Dzulkefli Ahmad, greeting supporters.

No untoward incidents have been reported thus far. The Election Commission however has been forced to act upon three media personnel from a Chinese media and KiniTV as they were found to have violated election rules by interviewing voters inside the voting compound.

MORE TO COME…