NIBONG TEBAL: Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr Joohari Ariffin, who is contesting in the Sungai Bakap by-election praised voters for arriving in droves early in the morning to cast their ballots.
The former Institut Aminuddin Baki northern region director said he was happy to see young and old voters showing up even before the polling centres opened at 8am.
He hoped the momentum would continue until the polls closed at 6pm.
"This morning I saw many voters at the centres and I saw that the ballot boxes were half (full). The various streams had equal (number of people).
"I hope (the arrival of voters) will continue till the evening. I could see that even the ballot boxes of the young voters (streams) were at the same level, so I can tell that the youngsters were very enthusiastic about their responsibility to vote," he told reporters after observing the voting process at SK Sungai Duri here today.
Joohari is in a straight fight against Perikatan Nasional's Abidin in the by-election today.
However, Abidin is the only one among the two who is voting in Sungai Bakap since Johari is a registered voter in Sungai Acheh state constituency. Both Sungai Bakap and Sungai Acheh are seats in the Nibong Tebal parliamentary constituency.
Johari said he was no stranger to Sungai Duri because many people there know him.
"I am confident that voters will make a wise decision and choose the best candidate."
The by-election was called following the death of its assemblyman Nor Zamri Latiff on May 24.
Nor Zamri, who is the Nibong Tebal Pas chief, won the Sungai Bakap state seat in last year's state election when he beat PH's Nurhidayah Che Ros with a 1,563-vote majority.