SEMENYIH: The voter turnout for the Semenyih by-election is expected to be the best since the 14th General Election (GE14).
This was after the by-election recorded a 68 per cent turnout as of 4pm, said the Election Commission (EC).
An hour after polls began, the voter turnout stood at an encouraging 15 per cent while at 2pm it stood at 56 per cent.
The best turnout following GE14 thus far was recorded at the Cameron Highands by-election which registered a 68.79 per cent.
The EC had expressed hope for the voter turnout at the Semenyih by-election to touch the 70 per cent mark.
In GE14, the voter turnout for the Semenyih state seat was 88 per cent out of 46,839 voters.
The percentage recorded in Semenyih at 4pm had also battered the turnout for the by-elections held last year for the state seats of Sungai Kandis (49.8 per cent), Seri Setia (44 per cent) and Balakong (43 per cent) in Selangor.
It has even exceeded the total voter turnout for the Port Dickson parliamentary seat by-election which was at 58.3 per cent.
The by-election was called following the death of incumbent Pakatan Harapan (PH) assemblyman, Bakhtiar Mohd Nor, from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), last Jan 11.
A total of 53,411 people were eligible to vote in the by-election.
The Semenyih state constituency has 53,520 ordinary voters, with 10 of them having voted through post, leaving 53,411 people eligible to vote today. Early voting was held last Tuesday (Feb 26).
The total number of eligible voters is based on the third quarter of the electoral roll for 2018 and updated until Jan 11, 2019, according to the EC.
The Semenyih by-election witnessed a four-cornered contest between Muhammad Aiman Zainali of PH, Zakaria Hanafi (Barisan Nasional), Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul (Parti Sosialis Malaysia) and an independent candidate, Kuan Chee Heng.
It is the sixth by-election after the GE14 held in May last year. Three of them were state by-elections, namely Sungai Kandis on Aug 4 and Balakong and Seri Setia, simultaneously on Sept 8.