Bukit Gelugor by-election: Polling centres close, counting begins

GEORGE TOWN: All 17 polling centres in the Bukit Gelugor Parliamentary by-election closed at 5pm, Sunday.

The Election Commission (EC) had expected turnout for the by-election to reach 78 per cent but as at 4pm, 43,814 or 53.26 per cent of the voters had cast their ballots.

Counting of votes has begun at the vote tallying centre at Dewan Sri Pinang and the official results are expected to be out as early as 8pm Sunday.

The by-election is a four-cornered fight between Ramkarpal Singh of DAP, Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) vice-president Datuk Huan Cheng Guan and two independent candidates Mohd Nabi Bux Mohd Abdul Sathar as well as Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zan.

The by-election was held following the death of incumbent Karpal Singh of DAP in a road accident on April 17.

In the last general election, Karpal Singh won the seat with a 42,706-vote majority, defeating Barisan Nasional's Teh Beng Yeam who polled 13,597 votes.

Unofficial result indicate that DAP candidate Ramkarpal Singh is on course to win the Bukit Gelugor by-election. – Bernama