SHAH ALAM: A number of voters in the Sungai Kandis constituency did not know that polling took place today and that had led to the decline in voter turnout for the by-election.
PKR candidate Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni said he was only informed of the matter when his team contacted voters to make sure that they were out at the polling stations.
“There are voters in Sungai Kandis who did not know that they have to vote today. Some thought they were still voters for the constituencies of Sentosa and Kota Kemuning,” Zawawi said when met.
Zawawi was commenting on the unexpected low voter turnout of less than 50 per cent today, in contrast to a forecast by the Election Commission (EC) at 80 per cent.
He also said voters were too comfortable with PKR’s victory in the 14th general election and took the Sungai Kandis by-election for granted.
Zawawi said most were positive about PKR’s chances of victory when met during his campaign rounds.
“Most of the voters feel PKR is in a comfort zone. Since the first leg of campaigning, we met voters who were too confident of PKR’s chances.
“And GE14 was only recently concluded. So probably some of the voters have other plans today.”
Zawawi said the onus would be on EC now to promote the importance of voting among the people, even if it is only a by-election.
“The EC should raise awareness among voters on the importance of elections. Many of the voters are still convinced that they can exercise their rights or otherwise.
“Hence, they will not feel guilty about forgoing their responsibilities as voters.”