Nenggiri By-Election: 63.58 Per Cent Voter Turnout As At 2 pm

GUA MUSANG, Aug 17 (Bernama) -- The voter turnout for the Nenggiri state by-election as of 2 pm was 63.58 per cent, exceeding the Election Commission's (EC) SPR) expectations of 60 per cent.

It also exceeded the voter turnout recorded in the 15th State Election in August last year which was 61.09 per cent.

There are  20,216 ordinary voters in Nenggiri out of a total of 20,259 registered voters,

A total of 20 polling centres involving 46 channels opened simultaneously at 8 am today for the by-election, with four of them closed at 2 pm.

They are the polling centres at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Tohoi, Pusat Pendidikan Komuniti Pos Gob, SK Sri Permai and SK Kuala Sungai.

Two polling centres, at Dewan Orang Ramai Pos Simpor and SK Pulat, were closed at 3 pm, while the others will close at 6 pm.

Two helicopters were used to bring the ballot boxes from the voting centres in the Orang Asli area of ​​Pos Simpor and Pos Gob to the Official Vote Tallying Centre at Dewan Perdana, Kompleks Perdana, Gua Musang District Council, more than 100 kilometres away.

The Nenggiri by-election was called following the vacancy of the seat, as announced by Kelantan State Assembly Speaker Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah on June 19, after the former incumbent, Mohd Azizi Abu Naim lost his Bersatu membership on June 13.

It involved a straight fight between BN candidate Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani, also known as Awie, representing the Unity Government, and PAS candidate Mohd Rizwadi Ismail, representing Perikatan Nasional (PN).

In the Kelantan State Election (PRN) on Aug 15 last year, Mohd Azizi defeated BN candidate Ab Aziz Yussof with a majority of 810 votes.

-- BERNAMA