The number of young voters who turned out to vote was encouraging in Sungai Bakap – EC Chairman

NIBONG TEBAL: The percentage of young people who came out to vote in the Sungai Bakap Legislative Assembly By-Election (PRK) in the morning was seen as quite encouraging.

Berita Harian reports, Chairman of the Election Commission (EC) Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun, said after inspecting the voting process at the three polling centers here, he found that the voting pattern saw the youth channels being filled the most.

He said that the turnout of the young and the elderly was seen to be balanced after the nine polling stations opened at 8am this morning.

“The situation is quite balanced and there are some channels where we see more young people than the elderly. Many young people leave early this time.

“Based on the current turnout rate, it is quite low when compared to the same period during the last State Election (PRN).

“Therefore, I hope the voters of Sungai Bakap can fulfill their responsibilities immediately because the weather in the afternoon is unpredictable,” he said at a press conference after inspecting the state of the polling center at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Duri here today.

In addition to Sungai Duri SK, Ramlan also visited the voting centers at Tasek Mutiara Bandar Tasek Mutiara National High School and Boon Beng Chinese National Type School.

Commenting further, Ramlan said that the voting process so far has gone smoothly even though there have been some minor mistakes but they have been handled well.

“We did not accept any major and serious mistakes throughout the voting process,” he said.

Overall, a total of 39,279 voters are eligible to fulfill their respective responsibilities in the by-election, including 57 policemen.

The Sungai Bakap by-election witnessed a clash between Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Dr Joohari Ariffin and Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Abidin Ismail following the death of incumbent Nor Zamri Latiff on May 24 due to stomach inflammation.