KUALA KANGSAR: A total of 32,632 of the 32,949 voters in the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary constituency are eligible to vote in the by-election tomorrow, according to the Election Commission.
Of the remaining 317 voters, 312 are early voters and five, absentee voters.
According to the EC, 23 polling centres have been prepared for the by-election, 21 of which would be at schools and two at community halls.
Polling will be from 8am to 5pm.
Eleven of the polling centres are located in the Bukit Chandan state constituency and 12, in the Manong state constituency, both of which come within the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary constituency.
A total of 69 polling streams had been established for the voters.
EC Perak director Ahmad Adli Abdullah advised voters to go to the polling centres early to escape the hot weather in the afternoon.
“The period for polling is long but voters should come out early and not wait until the last minute,” he told Bernama.
Ahmad Adli also reminded voters not to give their identity cards to anyone except EC workers.
He said the first ballot box expected to arrive at the vote-tallying centre at the Silver Jubilee Hall would be from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Clifford which was just 500 metres away.
The Kuala Kangsar by-election is being held simultaneously with the Sungai Besar by-election following the deaths of the MPs, Datuk Wan Mohammad Khair-il Annuar Wan Ahmad and Tan Sri Noriah Kasnon, respectively, in a helicopter crash in Sarawak on May 5.
The EC expects a 75 per cent voter turnout in the two by-elections. The turnout in the last general election, in 2013, was 84.3 per cent in Kuala Kangsar and 88.3 per cent in Sungai Besar.
The Kuala Kangsar by-election is a four-cornered contest among Datin Mastura Mohd Yazid of Barisan Nasional, Dr Najihatussalehah Ahmad of PAS, Prof Dr Ahmad Termizi Ramli of Parti Amanah Negara and Independent candidate Izat Bukhary Ismail Bukhary.
Of the four candidates, only Mastura is registered as a voter in Kuala Kangsar. Dr Najihatussalehah is a voter in Parit, Perak; Dr Ahmad Termizi, Shah Alam, Selangor; and Izat Bukhary, Kelantan.
Mastura, widow of Wan Mohammad Khair-il Annuar, said today she would exercise her right as a voter tomorrow at Sekolah Kebangsaan Raja Perempuan Muzwin. She is in mourning following the death of her husband.
Of the 32,949 voters in Kuala Kangsar, Malays comprise 22,496; Chinese, 7,757; Indians, 2,287; Orang Asli, 330; Sarawak Bumiputeras, 16; Sabah Bumiputeras, 13 and others, 50. – Bernama