ALOR SETAR - Before Malaysia’s 15th General Election (GE15) is done and dusted, Padang Serai in Kedah and Tioman in Pahang went to the polls on Wednesday.

Four candidates are fighting it out in both the Padang Serai parliamentary seat and the Tioman state seat.

Voter turnout was 63 per cent for Padang Serai and 54 per cent for Tioman at 4pm, the Election Commission said. Voting booths will be closed at 6pm.

Results could be expected after 9pm Wednesday.

The Kedah seat has been held by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in the last three general elections.

The Pahang seat that is synonymous with the holiday island of Tioman has been held by the Barisan Nasional (BN) pact in the last eight national polls.

Voting in the two seats was postponed from Nov 19 following the death of Padang Serai incumbent M. Karupaiya of PH three days before voting, and a candidate from Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance Md Yunus Ramli on the eve of GE15.

This time around, Datuk Azman Nasrudin (PN), Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak (PH), Hamzah Abd Rahman (Pejuang) and Independent candidate Sreanandha Rao are in the running for the Padang Serai seat.

The actual fight though will be fought between PN and PH, with the withdrawal of BN’s Datuk Sivarraajh Chandran, to make way for PH. This is because PH and BN are now allies after they formed a unity government with several other coalitions at the federal level.

The Tioman state seat will also be a fight between PN and PH. PN’s Nor Idayu Hashim ais facing off against BN’s Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussain. Two others in the fray are Osman Bakar (Pejuang) and Independent Sulaiman Bakar.

Will there be another “green wave” of PN hitting Kedah and Pahang again like in the Nov 19 general election? Or will PH’s successful takeover of Putrajaya shine through?

Kedah businessman Hamidan Ahmad, 50, said looking at the current political climate, he intended to vote for PN in Padang Serai.

“I have made up my mind. After all, what have we seen since the formation of the new Federal Government?” he asked.

Another voter who wanted to be known as Raju said he was unsure who to vote for.

“I have been a Barisan supporter all my life. Now, I have to choose between Pakatan or Perikatan. I am a bit confused,” he lamented.

The result of the vote, especially for Padang Serai, will be seen as a testimony of how popular the new unity government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is.

During the Nov 19 general election, PN won 13 parliamentary seats in Kedah with PH taking just one.

Spanning some 343km, the Padang Serai constituency has 133,870 voters with a breakdown of 65,586 male and 68,284 female voters.

The majority of the voters are aged between 21 and 30 with 29.1 per cent, followed by those aged 31-40 at 19.7 per cent.

There are 62.6 per cent Malay voters at 83,841, followed by 19.2 per cent Indian voters (25,687), 17.6 per cent Chinese (23,600) and 0.6 per cent others at 742.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has advised voters in Padang Serai and Tioman to come during the gazetted time or time stated in their voter’s information slip.

In a statement, EC secretary Datuk Ikmalrudin Ishak said 132,955 voters are expected to cast their votes in Padang Serai and 28,108 others in Tioman. He said the polling centres would open from 8am to 6pm.

The EC also encouraged the voters to wear face masks, use hand sanitiser and practise physical distancing at the polling centres, while those tested positive for Covid-19 should liaise with the district health officers at the centre for further instructions.

Mr Ikmalrudin also reminded all employers to give time off to their employees to vote as provided for under the Election Offences Act 1954.

The Meteorological Department has predicted sunny weather in the morning in Padang Serai with thunderstorms in the afternoon.

In Tioman, rain is expected in the morning with good weather in the afternoon. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK