HULU SELANGOR, May 11 — Pakatan Harapan's (PH) candidate Pang Sock Tao is currently leading in the Kuala Kubu Baru state by-elections, according to the unofficial tally as of 8.00pm.

According to the vote count provided by Pang's party DAP, she has garnered over 11,510 votes compared to her nearest competitor, Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Khairul Azhari Saut at over 8,000 votes.

The other two candidates have only received over 100 votes each.

Nearly 20,000 votes have been counted so far, roughly half of the total 40,413 eligible voters.

The polling process which began at 8am concluded at 6pm when all 18 polling centres were closed.

A total of 17 polling centres were closed at 6pm except for Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Bukit Fraser, which closed at 2pm. It catered for only 40 voters.

All ballot boxes from the 74 voting streams were taken to the Dewan Serbaguna and Kompleks Sukan Daerah Hulu Selangor here for tallying.

The official results are expected to be announced as early as 9pm.

A total of 39,269 voters were eligible to cast their ballots today after early voting on Tuesday which saw 97 per cent or 769 police and military personnel and their spouses casting their ballots.

It was held at two polling centres — Signals Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, Camp Erskine and Dewan Serbaguna Maktab Polis Diraja Malaysia — which had three polling streams.

The EC said the full result is expected to come out by 9pm.

The voter turnout was recorded at 55.79 per cent at 4pm, among the lowest among the by-elections after the 15th general election.

This morning, Pang had urged voters to come out early to vote for the state legislative assembly seat due to unpredictable weather conditions lately.

The Kuala Kubu Baru seat fell vacant following the death of its three-term assemblyman, Lee Kee Hiong, on March 21 from cancer.

In the state election in August last year, Lee beat candidates from PN, Parti Rakyat Malaysia and the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) by a majority of 4,119 votes.

The four-cornered fight saw Pang and Khairul Azhari Saut also going against Hafizah Zainuddin from Parti Rakyat Malaysia and Independent candidate Nyau Ke Xin.

Earlier today, Malay Mail reported that analysts predicted a victory for Pang, but with a lower majority than Lee had obtained.