A presiding officer and her team accompanied by a policewoman bring the EC yellow polling bag and other related materials from Lundu Community Hall to Lundu police station. — Photos by Chimon Upon
Nasri (left) goes through the checklist of items in the EC polling bag before heading off
to SK Telok Melano, as Mohd Hisham (second right) looks on.
LUNDU: Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah is reminding all employers to release their employees who are registered as voters for the Tanjong Datu by-election today.
According to him, it is an offence under the Election Offences Act 1954 Section 25(3) for any employer to stop any of their workers from exercising their rights on polling day.
“If found guilty, the employer could be fined RM5,000 or one year’s imprisonment,” Mohd Hashim told reporters yesterday after presiding over the inspection of EC yellow bags containing the materials needed for today’s by-election.
The Election Offences Act 1954 Section 25(3) states: “Any employer who, directly or indirectly, refuses, or by intimidation, undue influence, or in any other manner, interferes with the granting to any elector in his employ, of a reasonable period of voting, as in this section provided, shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine of RM5,000, or to imprisonment for one year.”
There are 9,959 eligible voters in Tanjong Datu, out of whom 188 are the early voters who had already cast their ballots on Feb 12.
The by-election is called following the passing of its assemblyman, the state’s fifth chief minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem on Jan 11 this year.
It is a three-cornered fight between Adenan’s widow Datin Patinggi Datuk Amar Jamilah Anu of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Johnny Aput of Sarawak Reform Party Sarawak (STAR), and Rapelson Richard Hamit of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDS Baru).
There are 16 polling districts and 25 polling centres across the whole state constituency.
All centres open at 8am, but close at different times – either at noon, 1pm, 3pm, 4pm or 5pm, depending on the number of voters at each polling district.
Four polling centres will close at noon – SK Telok Melano, SJK Chung Hua Selarat, SK Stoh and Kampung Rambungan Community Hall. Those closing at 5pm are at or near the town where the number of voters is higher – these centres are at SK Stunggang Melayu, SJK Chung Hua Lundu and SK Bumiputera Lundu.
The furthest polling centre is SK Telok Melano, which is about 80km from here. Helicopters are being employed to transport the ballot boxes back to the counting centre at Lundu Community Hall.
The local state administrative officer (SAO) Nasri Bujang, who is also the presiding officer for SK Telok Melano polling centre, and his team headed off to Telok Melano yesterday, bringing with them the ballot box and other polling materials.
They are expected to return here with the ballots by 3pm today via helicopter.
Mohd Hisham estimated that vote-counting might finish by 8pm, after which the results would be announced.
So far, there had been no untoward incident occurring throughout the 14-day campaign period. In this respect, Mohd Hisham hoped that the situation would continue to be smooth and peaceful today.
“I hope this by-election would beat the track record set by Balingian by-election, where there was no untoward incident and that immediately a day after polling, all election banners and posters were taken down and removed,” he said.
He also reminded all voters to come early, despite the wet weather forecast for today.
Moreover, Mohd Hisham hoped to see a higher turnout percentage of 75 per cent for this by-election, against the 70 per cent registered for the state election on May 7 last year.
“I also call upon those working or living outside Tanjong Datu constituency in areas such as Kuching to come back and vote,” he said.