SG KANDIS POLLS | A total of 51,217 voters will cast their ballots in the Sungai Kandis state by-election tomorrow.

Altogether, 19 polling stations with 109 streams will be open from 8 am to 5.30 pm.

According to the Malaysian Meteorological Department, rain is expected in the morning with the temperature hovering between 26° and 29° Celsius, while, in the evening, fine weather is forecast with the temperature of between 30° and 32° Celsius.

The Election Commission (EC) has made improvements for the by-election, including setting up two polling streams for voters aged 60 and above and adding more polling streams at stations with a large number of voters.

Twenty-one new streams have been established to avoid too many voters at a stream. This brings it to 109 streams, compared to 88 during the 14th general election (GE14) on May 9.

The EC has also extended the polling hours by 30 minutes, from 8am to 5.30pm, instead of closing at 5pm.

Pakatan Harapan candidate Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni, 48, of PKR is scheduled to cast his vote at Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Kebun at 9am while his contenders, namely BN’s Lokman Noor Adam, 45, and independent candidate K Murthy, 60, are not registered as voters in the constituency.

All ballot boxes will be taken to the official tallying centre at Dewan Besar Tanjung of the Shah Alam City Council in Section 19 and the result is expected to be announced at the latest by 10pm.

The EC is targeting a voter turnout of 80 percent for the by-election which is being held at a cost of RM1.4 million.

The Sungai Kandis constituency has 51,230 registered voters comprising 51,217 ordinary voters and 13 absentee voters.

Of the 51,230 registered voters, 24,998 are male (48.8 per cent) and 26, 232 female (51.2 per cent). In terms of ethnic composition, 71.34 percent of the voters are Malays, 15.69 percent are Indians and 11.75 percent are Chinese.

The by-election is being held following the death of the assemblyman, Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei of PKR, due to lymphoma cancer on July 2.

In GE14, Mat Shuhaimi retained the Sungai Kandis (formerly Sri Muda) state seat for the third consecutive term with a majority of 12,480 votes in a four-cornered fight against BN, PAS and Parti Rakyat Malaysia candidates.

-Bernama