Voting in a by-election in Terengganu began today, in the first test of strength since elections in March when the hardline Islamic party PAS was routed by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Barisan Nasional coalition.

Polling for Kuala Berang state legislative assembly constituency by-election went smoothly and by noon some 35 per cent of the electorate have cast their votes.

Election Commission (EC) Secretary Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said: "EC hopes the percentage increases in the afternoon and expects a turnout of more than 70 per cent if the fine weather continues.

"We have also informed the police not to allow leaders or members of both parties into the polling stations," he said when contacted by Bernama.

Wan Ahmad said this when commenting on a commotion at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kuala Berang polling centre here.

'Heated' situations

PAS supporters there claimed that Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, Terengganu Menteri Besar Idris Jusoh and Deputy Finance Minister Tengku Putera Tengku Awang had entered the polling station.

There were also "heated" situations at several other polling stations where vote canvassers from both parties jeered at each other but there were no untoward incidents reported.

The by-election is a straight fight between Barisan Nasional's (BN) Mohd Zawawi Ismail, 45, and Muhyiddin Abdul Rashid, 43, from PAS. In the March 21 general election, BN's Komaruddin Abdul Rahman defeated Dr Mamad Puteh of PAS with a majority of 1,695 votes.

Kuala Berang has an electorate of 11,429 comprising 11,289 Malays, 134 Chinese and seven Indians. There are 129 postal voters.

BEH LIH YI reports from Kuala Berang: BN candidate Mohd Zawiwi Ismail cast his vote at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Telaga at 8.05am while his PAS opponent, Muhyiddin Abdul Rashid, arrived at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kuala Berang polling station at 8am to cast his vote.

PAS by-election campaign director Harun Taib when contacted by malaysiakini said no untoward incident has been reported so far.

Light strike force called in

The light strike force personnel were called in to be stationed at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Telaga, where BN and PAS supporters have gathered in full force to do last minute campaigning.

A minor scuffle broke out at about 10.30am outside the school between BN and PAS supporters following an argument.

After that, police instructed BN supporters in the PAS camp to return to the BN group and ended the incident.

Polling will close at 5pm while counting is expected to start at 5.30pm.

The result is expected at 9pm and will be announced at the Dewan Majlis Daerah Hulu Terengganu.

The Kuala Berang seat fell vacant following the death of Umno's Komaruddin last month.