POLLING is in full swing at 18 polling stations, with 74 voting streams for the Kuala Kubu Baharu (KKB) by-election today.

The polling stations opened at 8am simultaneously and 39,269 voters were eligible to vote.

Voting will go on until 6pm at all the stations except for SJKC Bukit Fraser, which will close at 2pm, as it caters for only 40 voters.

Vote tallying will be done at Dewan Serbaguna dan Kompleks Sukan Daerah Hulu Selangor and the official results are expected to be announced at 10pm.

The by-election is a four-cornered fight among Pang Sock Tao (Pakatan Harapan/DAP), Khairul Azhari Saut (Perikatan Nasional/Bersatu), Hafizah Zainuddin (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and independent Nyau Ke Xin.

However, none of the four candidates will be voting as they are not registered voters in the constituency.

The KKB constituency has a mixed electorate of Malays (53.4)%, Chinese (30.5%), and Indians (15.82%). The remainder is made up of Orang Asli and others.

Young people in the 21-30 age group make up the biggest bloc of voters, at 9,400.

Last Tuesday, 97% of or 769 police and military personnel and their spouses cast their ballots in early voting.

The seat fell vacant following the death of Pakatan Harapan assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong, 58, of DAP on March 21 due to cancer.

In the state election in August last year, Lee defeated challengers from Perikatan Nasional, Parti Rakyat Malaysia and Muda with a majority of 4,119 votes to retain the seat for the third consecutive term. – May 11, 2024.