HULU SELANGOR, May 11 ― The Kuala Kubu Baru (KKB) by-election results will be known as early as 9pm, said Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Azmi Sharom.

He expressed his confidence that the vote tallying process would go smoothly thus allowing the results to be known early and he expected the voter turnout for the by-election to be around 60 per cent.

He said this when met by reporters after inspecting the voting process at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kuala Kubu Baru voting centre today.

Commenting on the progress today, Azmi said as of noon, the EC was satisfied with the smooth process and voter turnout percentage.

"Thus far everything is going smoothly. I haven't heard of any problems, access to the voting channel is good for the elderly and the disabled,” he said.

Today’s by-election sees a four-cornered clash between Pang Sock Tao (Pakatan Harapan), Khairul Azhari Saut (Perikatan Nasional), Hafizah Zainuddin (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and Nyau Ke Xin (Independent), and it is being held following the death of the incumbent Lee Kee Hiong, 58, on March 21 due to cancer.

A total of 39,269 voters are eligible to cast their ballots today at 18 polling centres with 74 voting streams which opened simultaneously at 8am and will be closed at 6pm, except for Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Bukit Fraser which will be closed at 2pm as it caters for only 40 voters. ― Bernama