BANGI: Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Wong Siew Ki has emerged as the winner in the Balakong by-election after securing 22,508 votes.
Her opponent, Tan Chee Teong from MCA, garnered a mere 3,975 votes.
This was the first time the PH and MCA logos were used in a by-election.
The by-election today involved 16 polling centres and 128 streams that opened at 8am and closed at 5.30pm.
The result was announced by Election Commission (EC) returning officer Datuk Rosli Othman, who is also Hulu Langat district officer, at the Hulu Langat district and land office.
Voter turnout was 43 per cent. The EC’s electoral roll on July 2 showed there were 62,219 eligible voters.
Twenty eight out of 31 early voters, comprising police officers, had voted on Sept 4. It was learnt that three of them did not vote either because their services had expired or they faced disciplinary problems.
The Balakong by-election turnout was the lowest after the Penanti by-election (in 2009), which recorded a 46 per cent voter turnout, and the Chempaka by-election (in 2015), which saw a 55 per cent voter turnout.
The recent Sungai Kandis by-election recorded 49.8 per cent.
The by-election was held following the death of assemblyman Eddie Ng Tien Chee in an accident at KM11.7 of the Grand Saga Highway on July 20.
Ng had retained his Balakong seat for the second term after defeating Lim Chin Wah of Barisan Nasional and Mohamad Ibrahim Ghazali of Pas with a 35,538-vote majority in the general election.