The nine polling centres will remain open until 6pm, after which the ballot boxes will be taken to the Jawi Multipurpose Hall in Taman Desa Jawi, Nibong Tebal for the vote counting process.

There are a total of 39,279 registered voters in Sungai Bakap under the electoral roll for the by-election. This includes 57 police personnel who opted to vote via postal ballots.

Pakatan Harapan’s Joohari Ariffin and Perikatan Nasional’s Abidin Ismail are in a straight fight for the Penang state seat.

According to Bernama, only Abidin will cast his vote today at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Duri as Joohari is a voter in Sungai Acheh, which is another state seat under the Nibong Tebal parliamentary constituency.

PKR first wrested Sungai Bakap from Barisan Nasional in the 2008 general election and retained it for another two terms before losing it to PN last year.

The Sungai Bakap by-election is being held following the death of assemblyman Nor Zamri Latiff from PAS on May 24.

In the state polls last August, Nor Zamri defeated PH candidate Nurhidayah Che Rose with a majority of 1,563 votes.

The Sungai Bakap state poll is the eighth by-election since the last general election (GE15) in November 2022, Bernama reported.

Based on data from the 2023 polls, Sungai Bakap comprises 59.36% Malay voters, 22.54% Chinese, 17.39% Indian, and 0.71% from other ethnicities.

The data also shows that 7.9% of Sg Bakap voters are between the ages of 18 and 20, while those between 21 and 39 make up 45% of the electorate.