The Malaysian Insight

THE Election Commission (EC) has reported a 63% turnout for early voting in the Port Dickson by-election today.

Voters, who included soldiers, the police and their spouses had until 5.30pm to cast their ballots.

There are 7,628 early voters in Port Dickson which include 555 policemen and 77 postal voters.

A turnout of 63% means only 4,578 voters cast their ballots.

More than 3,000 voters  in Linggi and Bagan Pinang, which are predominantly Umno areas did not come out to vote.

Malays make up the bulk of voters in Port Dickson at 43%, followed by Chinese (33%), Indians (22%) and others (2%).

In the May general election, PKR candidate Danyal Balagopal Abdullah won 36,225 votes, defeating the BN and PAS candidates who received 18,515 and 6,594 votes, respectively.

The by-election was triggered when Danyal, a first-time MP, resigned to allow PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim to contest to enable him to return to Parliament.

The former deputy prime minister is up against six others – his former aide and sodomy accuser Mohd Saiful Azlan Bukhari, former Negri Sembilan menteri besar Isa Samad, PAS’ Mohd Nazari Mokhtar, and three other independent candidates.

Isa who was former Linggi assemblyman has strong support in both the Linggi and Bagan Pinang areas.

A study by think tank Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) predicts that Anwar will win the vote with a big margin, followed by Isa, while the rest of the candidates will lose their deposits. – October 9, 2018.