JOHOR BAHRU: The Election Commission (EC) is targeting a turnout of at least 99 per cent among the 927 police personnel eligible to cast their ballots in early voting for the Pulai parliamentary by-election today.
EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said the early voting process at the Kempas police station and Regional Two Marine Police (PPM) headquarters here was proceeding smoothly.
The two voting centres opened at 8 am today, and the one at the Kempas police station closed at noon while the other centre will close at 5 pm.
“There are two voting streams at the Region Two PPM headquarters and one at the Kempas police station. The voting trend has been very good, registering 16 per cent after the first hour and 34 per cent after the second.
“We hope both early voting centres can achieve good turnouts of at least 99 per cent,” he told reporters in the compound of the Region Two PPM headquarters.
Of the 927 voters, 46 people are scheduled to vote at the Kempas police station operations room and 881 at Dewan Nusantara of Region Two PPM headquarters.
Abdul Ghani also advised voters in the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state by-elections on Saturday to go out and vote early.
“Go out and vote early or according to the schedule proposed by EC. Do not give your identity card to unauthorised quarters or individuals to avoid creating problems.
“Voters who are out of their constituencies should return to fulfil their responsibility as voters,” he said.
The two seats fell vacant following the death of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub on July 23.
There are 166,653 voters in Pulai and 40,379 voters in Simpang Jeram. – BERNAMA
