EC’s voting rate at 68% now-why the drop from 71.75% hours ago?(Update 2)

While it is raining cats and dogs,  about 800 residents/voters are evacuated, and some villages are effectively cut off the voting rate in Tenang, according to EC, is at 68.69% at 4.30pm-which is  surprisingly closing on the 73% at 2008 general election where there was no flood! Many on-line folks are wondering aloud what happened. There is a faint reminder of the surprisingly `low voting rate’ in Sibu-which was later revised upwards by a whopping 10% by the EC after counting extended into 9.00pm. Are we looking at something similar happening in Tenang?

Update: Final voter turn out is officially 71.75%, or 10588 voters having voted, only slightly lower than the 73.5% at 2008 general elections. More analysis may be possible later as more details may emerge.

Update 2: the voting rate has dropped to 66.7%, or only 9833 voters having voted,  according to Bernama report (see 2nd attachment below)-confirming our previously expressed reservation of the voting rate which closed on the 2008’s, despite the inundation of the constituency for a whole day. Any explanation from EC this time?Why the EC seems to be incapable of giving accurate voting rate? The situation is particularly disturbing as it raise the issue if the voting rate for the whole day had been inflated (by 4% or 755 voters )for some purpose?

In the Sibu election the voter turn out was announced to be 59% at the closing of the poll but was revised upwards to 69% by 9.00pm. The No.2 of the EC later excused the EC by claiming that the disputed postal votes was not included in the earlier turn out calculation. Wonder when the postal votes disputes started to delay their inclusion in the turn out? Whichever side they vote-or more precisely, whether their votes are considered acceptable or spoilt, does not make any difference to the turn out rate which include all votes cast-spoilt or not. Some psychological manipulation was suspected.

Whether the allocation for transport by the EC is fairly managed it now appear that the PAS stronghold in central Labis has only 46.55 voting rate. How does this compare to other BN areas? The question remain to be answered.

BN Retains Tenang (Updated)	Share
Sunday, 30 January 2011 22:30
LABIS — Barisan Nasional (BN) retained the Tenang State Assembly seat when its candidate, Mohd Azahar Ibrahim defeated PAS candidate Normala Sudirman with a bigger majority.  Mohd Azahar garnered 6,699 votes while Normala had 2,992 which gave the BN a majority of 3,707 votes. In the last general election, the BN candidate, the late Sulaiman Taha beat Md Saim Siran, from PAS, with a majority of 2,492 votes. The result was announced by the Returning Officer for the by-election for the Tenang state seat, Md Asri Amir, at the Labis District Council Multi-purpose Hall at about 10.05 tonight. The result was initially expected at 8pm but a major flood that hit the state constituency had delayed the arrival of several ballot boxes. Also present at the hall to celebrate the BN victory were Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman, who was also the BN election director for the Tenang state seat, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and other BN leaders. As soon as the result was announced, Mohd Azahar, who was wearing a blue shirt and a ‘songkok’, was hoisted by his supporters over their shoulders while chanting ‘Hidup BN!’ (Long Live BN). Despite the major flood that hit several low-lying areas in the Tenang state constituency, polling went smoothly with 67 per cent or 9,833 of the total of 14,753 registered voters in the constituency casting their votes. The flood and heavy rain throughout the day had caused the voter turnout to drop this time compared with the 73.52 per cent recorded in the last general election. Some of the voters had to go to the polling centres by boats and trucks provided by several government agencies such as the Fire and Rescue Department, Malaysian Armed Forces, police and the Malaysian Red Crescent Society. Mohd Azahar, 39, who is also fondly referred to as ‘Tok Ai’, was a former Assistant Land and District Administrator for the Rengit sub-district, Batu Pahat, while Normala was a former teacher. The Tenang by-election was held following the death of incumbent Assemblyman Sulaiman,Taha on Dec 17, last year. (Bernama)