Almost 100% turnout for early voting

SEREMBAN: Early voting for the Rantau by-election wrapped up at noon with a high voter turnout of 96%, said the Election Commission (EC).

The four-hour polling session started at 8am and took place at two voting centres – the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) base in Sendayan and the Rantau police station.

It involved a total of 110 early voters, with 74 military personnel and their spouses casting their ballot at the Sendayan air base and the remaining 36 police personnel voting at the Rantau police station.

Another eight are postal voters.

The state seat has 20,926 registered voters with 55.51% Malay, 18.46% Chinese, 26% Indian and others at 0.03%.

The Rantau polling day on Saturday will see a four-cornered fight between Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Paka­tan Harapan’s Dr S. Streram and independent candidates R. Malar­vizhi and Mohd Nor Yassin.

The Rantau by-election was triggered following a Federal Court de­cision to uphold an earlier ruling by the Election Court to nullify the results for Rantau.

In the 14th General Election, Umno deputy president Mohamad won the state seat unopposed after Dr Streram was denied entry to submit his nomination papers as he did not have a tag or a pass.

Election Court judge Azimah Omar allowed Dr Streram’s petition for a by-election on the grounds that Mohamad’s election victory was not valid.

The Rantau polls is the seventh by-election post-GE14, and the third to be held in 2019 after Cameron Highlands and Semenyih.