Polling-day snippets

Mar 8, 08 10:43am

• MCA President Ong Ka Ting is "highly" confident that voters today will send BN back into power with a bigger mandate. After voting, the Kulai parliamentary hopeful assured reporters that the BN would secure the mandate it is looking for and that voter turn-out in his constituency was very high.

• 5pm: Polling ends in all centres.

• As of 3pm, about 58 percent of Malaysia's 10.9 million registered voters had cast their ballots, said the Election Commission.

• Sungai Siput’s incumbent MP S Samy Vellu is confident all MIC candidates standing for the nine parliamentary and 19 state seats will retain their seats today.
  
  “A week ago we had some problems in Prai and Lunas but now we have solved all the grouses and voters there are supporting us now,” he said.

• As of noon today, about 32 percent of Malaysia's 10.9 million registered voters had cast their ballots, said EC chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, adding that the polling was proceeding smoothly.

• Out-going Penang chief minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon said that he will not be naming his successor tonight. He added that the announcement will be made in the next day or two. Three frontrunners for the post are party vice-president Dr Teng Hock Nan, Tanjung division chief and present favourite Teng Chang Yeow and deputy secretary-general Lee Kah Choon.

• PKR’s de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said he was glad to be able to vote again for the first time since 1995. He and his wife Dr Wan Azizah voted at the SM Penanti at about 10.45am. Wan Azizah is contesting to retain her Permatang Pauh seat in Penang. He also said that the mood was “very good” for the opposition.

• Lee Chong Meng, the MCA challenger for the Bukit Bintang seat, has filed a report with the Election Commission, charging that his opponent DAP incumbent Fong Kui Lun has violated election laws by giving out flowers in honour of International Women's Day.
  
  Lee said the flowers did not display any party logo but were accompanied by stickers that said, 'Mrs Fong wishes Happy Women's Day' and were distributed outside polling stations.

• Opposition party members this morning assaulted a bus driver in Besut, Terengganu, for allegedly transporting phantom voters. The driver has been admitted to hospital.

• About 20 BN workers at the Pantai Merdeka operations room were down with food poisoning, believed to have been caused by consuming packet drinks delivered to them by an unknown person last night. Those affected complained of dizziness, vomitting and sore throat and were sent to the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital, where they were given outpatient treatment.

• Selangor BN chief Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo and his wife Zahrah Kechik arrived in a new scooter at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Simpang Lima, Sungai Besar, Sabak Bernam polling centre this morning. The black scooter with silver stripe is said to be bought by him only yesterday with registration number BJV 8888, believed by the Chinese to bring "ong" or good luck.

• Elderly voters in Kuala Lumpur are complaining with Election Commission’s placing of voting booths in first or second floors of voting centres. They claim that this is making is difficult for them to cast they votes.

• BN chairperson Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he was confident that the ruling coalition can retain its two-thirds majority in the Parliament after casting his vote at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Bertam in Kepala Batas at 9.25am this morning.

• Prime Minister’s wife Jeanne Abdullah today urged women voters to go out in full force and cast their votes to show their strength in determining the future of the nation. She said that this was important especially today is also International Women’s Day.

• In Sungai Siput, MIC president S Samy Vellu cast his vote at the SMK Methodist with his family members at 8.50am. Samy Vellu is facing a tough challenge from PKR’s Dr D Jeyakumar for his seat, which the veteran politician has held for eight terms.

• PAS Kelantan is claiming that they have a man who had admitted of being a phantom-voter broker. The party said that the man turned himself to them at about 3am, stating that he had 28 identity cards which can be used by anyone to vote. The party has yet to lodge a police report or reveal the name of the man.

• The latest unverified SMS to be making its rounds - there are 5,000 army (postal) votes being shifted to Bukit Bintang, 15,000 to Sungai Siput, 7,000 to Pekan and 3,000 to Kulai.

• International wire service Reuters had this rather alarming headline this morning - ‘Malaysia votes, PM's leadership at stake’. The news agency said that the ruling coalition is seen as certain to retain power but the prime minister's leadership is hanging in the balance, largely due to the unhappiness among the ethnic Chinese and Indian.

• Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor voted at Sekolah Menengah Sains Sultan Ahmad Shah in Pekan, Pahang at 8.40am.

• Outgoing Penang chief minister and Gerakan acting president Dr Koh Tsu Koon and his wife Chui Kah Peng voted at Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjung Bungah at 8.20am.

• Popular blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s predictions (according to his intelligence agency source): Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis, Kedah and Penang will all fall to opposition today. On the last count, the opposition may win up to 90 seats in Parliament. In 2004, the opposition won 21 parliamentary seats.