Permatang Pauh, May 8 – The Permatang Pauh by-election ended at 5pm today with 73 per cent of the 71,252 registered voters had cast their ballot. The polling was conducted at 25 voting centres which were opened at 8am today. The votes will be counted at the respective voting centres after voting period closed and the official results to be announced earliest by 9pm today at Institut Kemahiran Belia Negeri (IKBN) in Jalan Berapit here.
The Permatang Pauh Parliamentary by-election today sees a four-cornered fight between Suhaimi Sabudin from Barisan Nasional, PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Azman Shah Othman (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and Salleh Isahak (Independent). The by-election was called after its incumbent Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim lost his eligibility to be a member of Parliament following his conviction for sodomy. He is currently serving a five-year jail sentence.
A total of 627 early voters had cast their ballots on Sunday. In the 2013 General Election, Permatang Pauh constituency recorded 63,332 or 88.5 per cent voters turnout. Anwar retained the seat which he won in 2008 by-election with 11,721 majority votes after polling 37,090 votes, defeating BN’s Mazlan Ismail who garnered 25,369 votes while Independent candidate Dr Abdullah Zawawi Samsudin lost his deposit after only securing 201 votes.
