Ec Expects 80% Turnout - Results By 9:30 Pm.

From http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/news/general/4900-ec-expects-80-voter-turnout-results-by-930pm

HULU SELANGOR: The Election Commission (EC) expects about 80 percent of the 63,701 eligible voters to turn up to cast their ballots in the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election tomorrow.

The anticipated higher percentage of voter turnout, compared to the 75.24 percent in the 2008 general election, can be attributed to the fact that tomorrow is a Sunday.

EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusuf said today the fine weather expected in the morning as well as the EC and police measures to ensure smooth polling would also be the contributory factors.

He advised voters to come out early to exercise their right as rain could fall in the afternoon.

"The voters should not be overly concerned about their safety as the security forces had stepped up patrols to prevent any undesirable incident," he told a news conference.

Abdul Aziz said the EC expected the result to be known before 9.30pm, provided everything went according to schedule, because the counting of votes would begin at the polling centres soon after polling closed at 5pm.

No victory celebration

He also said that the EC would not hesitate to dismantle "hot kiosks" set up by political parties outside polling centres in an attempt to canvass for votes.

He advised the candidates to stop campaigning at midnight tonight in accordance with the election laws.

"I also do not want to see any victory celebration after the result is announced," he said, adding that six teams of enforcement officers had been monitoring the campaign which entered its final day today.

On a claim by PKR candidate Zaid Ibrahim that some voters had been relocated to another parliamentary constituency, Abdul Aziz said a change of polling centres was made
to facilitate the voting process.

"For example, the polling centre at the Tamil school near Kuala Kubu Baru was moved to Sekolah Datuk Haji Kamaruddin because of traffic congestion," he said.


The by-election is a straight fight between P. Kamalanathan of BN and Zaid and is being held following the death of the MP, Zainal Abidin Ahmad of the PKR, last month. - Bernama