The long weekend could have been a factor for the low voter turnout at the Rompin parliamentary by-election in which only 74 percent of the 53,926 registered voters came out to vote compared with the initial target of 80 percent.
Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said voters in Rompin may have made earlier plans in conjunction with the long weekend resulting in many voters not turning out to vote today.
"The voters in Rompin get five consecutive holidays from Friday (Labour Day followed by Saturday, and Sunday being Wesak Day and May 5 declared a holiday as replacement for Wesak Day which fell on Sunday, while May 7 is a state public holiday in conjunction with Pahang state Hol Day.
"So maybe there are voters who decided to take leave on May 6, enabling them to have a week long holiday," he told reporters at the tallying centre in Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah in Rompin last night.
In this regard, Abdul Aziz said the EC would conduct a post-mortem on the drop which he said was quite significant if compared to the previous turnout of 86 percent or 46,035 voters during the 13th General Election on May 13, 2013.
Apart from commenting on the proceeding of polling today, Abdul Aziz said he was satisfied with the overall process of voting, even though there were minor incidents involving a handful of party supporters after the campaign period had ended.
"I am happy with the percentage of turnout in the morning which was high but it tapered off after noon until polling closed at 5pm," he said.
Abdul Aziz was also happy that all plans for the by-election went smoothly and the results were announced as scheduled.
In the by-election, BN candidate Hasan Arifin defeated Nazri Ahmad of PAS by a 8,895-vote majority after receiving 23,796 votes compared to 14,901 votes by Nazri.
The by-election was held following the death of its incumbent Jamaluddin Jarjis in a helicopter crash in Semenyih, Selangor on April 4.
- Bernama
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