EC chairman Ramlan Harun said the recent Nenggiri by-election in Kelantan saw a turnout exceeding 70%, Bernama reported.

“We hope to see similarly high participation here. Our target is as high as possible,” he was quoted as saying after observing the early voting at the Dewan Mahkota polling centre at Kem Mahkota, Kluang, today.

Ramlan expressed hopes of reaching a 90% turnout in today’s early voting. As of 10am, the turnout stood at 35.47%.

“The number of voters who have fulfilled their duties by 10am is higher than during the early voting in the last general election, where only 18.6% had voted by the same time,” he said.

“With the good weather today, we hope to achieve our target of 90% participation.”

Ramlan also visited the other two polling centres at Dewan Pengaman Zamrud at the Kluang district police headquarters housing complex, and SK Sultan Sir Ibrahim.

The early voting today involves 4,510 military personnel and 401 police officers, as well as their spouses, contributing to the total of 66,318 registered voters in the Mahkota state constituency.

Present at the polling centres were the two candidates in the by-election – Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah of Barisan Nasional and Haizan Jaafar of Perikatan Nasional.

The by-election was called following the death of Umno assemblyman Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, 63, on Aug 2 while receiving treatment at the Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom Hospital.