SIXTY-ONE polling centres with 362 streams opened simultaneously at 8am today for the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state by-elections.

They comprised 47 polling centres in the Pulai constituency and 14 in the Simpang Jeram constituency. All are scheduled to close at 6pm.

Based on Election Commission’s latest data, 205,810 voters – 165,509 in Pulai and 40,301 in Simpang Jeram – will be casting their ballots today.

These voters will be electing new representatives to replace Salahuddin Ayub, who died on July 23.

On Tuesday, 831 members of the police force carried out their civic duty as early voters for the Pulai by-election. The turnout was 90%.

However, there was no early voting for the Simpang Jeram by-election.

Both by-elections are three-cornered contests between Pakatan Harapan (PH), Perikatan Nasional (PN) and independent candidates.

In Pulai, PH candidate Suhaizan Kaiat is facing Zulkifli Jaafar of PN and Independent candidate Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi, while in Simpang Jeram, PH’s Nazri Abdul Rahman is taking on Dr Mohd Mazri Yahya of PN and Independent candidate S. Jeganathan. – Bernama, September 9, 2023.