Chu Koi Wa (left), 76, and Hasnini Mohd Rudi, 41, voted early to avoid heavy traffic.
JOHOR BARU: The worry of heavy traffic has motivated an elderly couple here to come out early to the polling stations at SK Seri Melati, here.
According to Chu Koi Wa, 76, he had left his house at Taman University, Skudai, at 7am and arrived at the polling centre 30 minutes later.
“The way to the city would usually be congested, especially during the weekend, but luckily today it was a bit easy to navigate,” he said when met after casting his vote.
Chu, accompanied by his wife, Tan Yok Eng, 73, said that they used to live in the area nearby but have not changed their address.
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Sharing the same plan was 41-year-old beautician Hasnini Mohd Rudi, who cast her vote early so that she could open her shop in the city centre in time.
“Maybe because it’s only a by-election, the situation was not quite hectic during the previous state elections. I was worried that it might be congested coming here because it is near the city,” she said.
Asked to comment on her hope for the candidate, Hasnini said that she wanted Johor to have a leader who can perform his duties well for the people.
Earlier, Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh was reported as saying that a total of 166,653 voters are registered in Pulai and 40,379 in Simpang Jeram.
Each seat will see a three-cornered fight involving Pakatan Harapan, Perikatan Nasional, and an Independent.
There were 47 polling centres with 294 streams in the Pulai parliamentary constituency and 14 centres with 68 streams in the Simpang Jeram state constituency, which would open from 8am until 6pm.
