KLUANG, Sept 28 — The turnout for the Mahkota state by-election in Johor remained south of the halfway mark of its total 66,318 registered voter population at 4pm today, despite entreaties from political parties for those aged 18 and above to fulfil their duty.

The Election Commission had predicted 60 per cent, but recorded 47.16 per cent as having cast their ballots with just two hours to polls closing at 6pm.

Polling stations, numbering 20 in total, opened at 8am, but turnout has been sluggish throughout the day even with the clear skies in the morning.

The weather changed in the afternoon, with heavy rain falling though some voters still made their way to the ballot boxes, umbrella in hand, as captured in videos posted by radio broadcaster JohorFM on X, formerly Twitter.

The Johor state seat is seeing a straight fight between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).

BN is fielding its Kluang Umno Youth chief Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah, 40 while has PN chose former Johor footballer Mohamad Haizan Jaafar, 60, who goes by the name "Coach Haizan” on the ballot paper.

The Mahkota by-election was called following the death of its elected representative Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, 63, on August 2.

Sharifah Azizah won the seat in the Johor state election in 2022 by a majority of 5,166 votes in a four-cornered fight involving Pakatan Harapan, PN and Warisan candidates.

Mahkota is the fourth by-election held this year.

The first was the Kuala Kubu Baru by-election in Selangor, followed by Sungai Bakap in Penang, and the Nenggiri by-election in Kelantan.