KULIM: The voter turnout for the Padang Serai parliamentary election is set to reach over 70 per cent as targeted by the Election Commission (EC).
This was possible based on the 63 per cent voter turnout recorded at 4pm today, with two hours remaining before all 46 polling centres closed their doors at 6pm,
However, the EC has yet to provide an update on the matter as of 6pm.
Earlier today, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said the commission hoped the voter turnout would reach between 60 and 75 per cent out of the total 132,955 voters in the constituency.
Overall, the voting process went smoothly since the polling centres were opened at 8am today.
The weather was fine since morning before heavy rainfall started pouring about 4pm in most areas in Padang Serai.
No untoward incident was reported throughout the polling process.
Six candidates had filed their nomination for the race.
They are Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak, Datuk C. Sivarraajh of Barisan Nasional, Datuk Azman Nasrudin of Perikatan Nasional) and Hamzah Abd Rahman of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air.
The other two contenders are Mohd Bakhri Hashim, representing Warisan, and independent candidate Sreanandha Rao.
However, Warisan and BN had subsequently announced their withdrawal from the race during the campaign period following the formation of the unity government at the federal level comprising PH, BN, Warisan and other Borneo-based parties.
Their names, nevertheless, still appeared on ballot papers as per the EC regulations.
In the 13-day campaign, all eyes were on the race between PH and PN.
However, PN could spring an upset to wrest the seat from PH based on the 15th General Election (GE15) result trends on Nov 19 that saw PN made almost a clean sweep in Kedah.
PN won 13 out of 14 parliamentary seats in Kedah, with PH retaining only one seat — Sungai Petani — and losing six seats it won in GE14.