CAMERON HIGHLANDS: The Election Commission (EC) reiterated that the early closure of 23 voting centres before 4pm out of the 29 centres in the Cameron Highlands by-election is not a big deal, as it had been done in previous polls.
EC Chairman, Azhar Azizan Harun said previously all the voting centres were closed early due to their locations as well as due to security reasons.
He said it was similar in the 14th General Election (GE14).
“In the previous general election (all the affected polling centres) were also closed (early) and it was never an issue, I am not sure how this has become an issue now,” he said.
Azhar was speaking to reporters after a briefing session on the preparations for the by-election at the vote tallying centre at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Sultan Ahmad Shah's Dewan Gemilang, here, today.
Azhar added that one of the steps taken by the EC after GE14 was to increase the number of channels in several voting centres to speed up the ballot casting process and ensure voters do not have to wait long.
“If it was not an issue in GE14, why is it an issue in the by-election now?” he questioned.
“In GE14, even though the voting centres were closed early but the voter turnout was quite high, which was between 83 to 85 per cent,” he said.
