Port Dickson all set for polling tomorrow

PORT DICKSON: Polling is tomorrow in the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election, and the Election Commission (EC) expects a 70% turnout from the 68,317 registered voters in the much-anticipated seven-cornered fight.
The result is expected to be announced at 10 pm tomorrow at the Port Dickson Municipal Council hall here.
A total of 1,403 Election Commission (EC) staff will be assigned to the 32 polling stations with 154 polling streams that will be open from 8 am to 5.30 pm.
The EC has also advised voters in Port Dickson to check their polling information via MySPR Semak or on the EC portal. They can also call 03-88927018 or send an SMS to 15888.
Up to 800 policemen have been deployed to ensure that the voting process and other aspects of safety and traffic flow are smooth and running throughout the constituency.
The polling will be witnessed by the agents of the respective candidates at the various polling stations. Election observers, comprising representatives of organisations and non-governmental groups appointed by the EC, will also witness the voting process.
All eyes will be on Pakatan Harapan candidate and PKR president-elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is contesting against Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar of PAS and five independent candidates – former Negeri Sembilan Mentri Besar Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad; Anwar's former personal aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan; social media personality Stevie Chan Ken Leong; management consultant Kan Chee Yuen and a former lecturer of a private university, Lau Seck Yan, the only female candidate.
Mohd Isa, being a local, will be the only candidate who will vote in the constituency. He is expected to cast his vote at Sekolah Kebangsaan Linggi.
This is the fourth by-election after the 14th General Election on May 9. The other three were in the state constituencies of Sungai Kandis, Seri Setia and Balakong, all in Selangor. They were held following the deaths of their respective state assemblymen.
The Port Dickson parliamentary seat was vacated by incumbent Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, 68, on Sept 12 to allow Anwar, who recently won the PKR presidency, to contest and return to parliament.
In GE14, Danyal Balagopal won the seat with a comfortable majority of 17,710 votes, defeating Datuk V.S. Mogan of Barisan Nasional and Mahfuz Roslan of PAS.
The Port Dickson seat, which has been a PKR stronghold since 2008, has five state constituencies within it. They are Chuah and Lukut (held by DAP), Pinang and Linggi (BN) and Sri Tanjung (PKR).
The Port Dickson constituency has 75,770 registered voters, including early voters, comprising Malays (43%) Chinese (33%), Indians (22%) and other races (2%).
Early voting was held on Oct 8 for the over 7,000 personnel from the military and police to cast their ballots. — Bernama