A total of 14 polling centres were opened to voters at 7.30am. The EC has set a closing time of 5.30pm at 11 of the polling centres, while the remaining three will close earlier, at 4pm.

There are a total of 22,731 registered voters, including 43 who are police personnel, in the Jepak state constituency in Sarawak. There was no early voting centre opened as the 43 police personnel had sent in postal votes.

The contest for the seat is a three-way race between Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) Iskandar Turkee, Aspirasi’s Chieng Lea Phing and Parti Bumi Kenyalang’s (PBK) Stevenson Joseph Sumbang.

The Jepak by-election was called following the death of its six-term assemblyman, Talib Zulpilip of GPS, on Sept 15.

In the 12th Sarawak state elections in December 2021, the late Talib retained the seat he had held since 1996 with a 4,243-vote majority.

Meanwhile, EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh was previously reported to have said that the commission expects the voter turnout to reach 65%, Bernama reported.

He added that the result is expected to be announced at 9pm.