KLUANG, Sept 28 — A total of 61,274 voters will fulfil their responsibilities in the Mahkota state by-election today to elect their new representative.

At 8 am today, 20 polling stations involving 109 channels will open for the voting process and will close simultaneously at 6 pm.

Early voting for the by-election was held last Tuesday (Sept 24) for 4,437 voters consisting of military personnel and their spouses as well as police personnel at three early voting centres.

The Election Commission (SPR) has also issued 607 postal ballot papers on Sept 15.

There are 66,318 voters in the Mahkota state constituency with 56 per cent of them Malays, followed by Chinese (34 per cent), and Indian (eight per cent).

The Mahkota state by-election involved a straight fight between Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah and Perikatan Nasional (PN) Mohamad Haizan Jaafar.

Both candidates will also be voting: Syed Hussien, 40, at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Seri Perdana, and Mohamad Haizan, 61, at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SK) Kampung Melayu.

The Mahkota state by-election was called following the death of its incumbent, Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, 63, last Aug 2.

Sharifah Azizah, of BN, won the seat in the State Election in 2022 with a majority of 5,166 votes in a four-cornered fight involving Pakatan Harapan (PH), PN and Warisan candidates.

This is the fourth by-election held this year. The first was the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election in Selangor, followed by Sungai Bakap, in Penang, and the Nenggiri by-election in Kelantan. — Bernama