PONTIAN (Nov 14): The Election Commission today advised voters to exercise their right in the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election on Saturday and to go to the polls early in the day.

EC chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun said they should avoid rushing to the polling stations at the last minute. The voting period is from 8 am to 5.30 pm.

The voters must bring along their identity card and voter card or voting information for examination by the polling clerks, he said in a statement.

Azhar Azizan advised the voters against handing their identity cards to anyone else besides the polling clerks.

He suggested that voters who have not received the voter card, possibly due to change of address, or do not know the voting information to check for these details earlier, before polling day on Saturday.

"They can check at the portal, https://pengundi.spr.gov.my, or via the MySPR Semak application or contact the EC hotline at 03-88927018 or send an SMS to 15888 by typing SPRSEMAKNO..

"The voters must record and keep the information on the polling station, polling stream and voter number,” he said.

A total of 52,698 of the 52,986 voters are eligible to vote on Saturday. Up to 227 of the early voters went to the polls on Nov 12.

The by-election is a six-cornered contest among Karmaine Sardini of Pakatan Harapan; Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng of Barisan Nasional; Datuk Dr Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz of Berjasa; Wendy Subramaniam of Gerakan and two independent candidates, namely Dr Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar.

It is being held following the death of the MP, Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, who was a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, on Sept 21. - Bernama