Batu Sapi, Galas voters decide today

Polling: 8am to 5pm
Vote count: 6.30pm onwards
Results: By 9pm

8am: (Batu Sapi) It's clear skies in Batu Sapi as voters start trickling in at the 12 polling centres under the parliamentary constituency in Sandakan, Sabah.

Rush-hour traffic hits parts of Batu Sapi such as in front of the SMK Agama polling centre in Taman Mawar, as early voters swell the ranks of road users moving about on this bright Thursday morning.

Batu Sapi will see a three-way fight between BN's Linda Tsen Thau Lin, SAPP's Yong Teck Lee and PKR's Ansari Abdullah.

Out of the 12 polling stations, two will close early - one at 3pm, the other at 4pm - due to the small number of voters in those areas. The the rest are to close at 5pm.

Eleven of the polling stations are in schools, while the remaining one is the district library.

8.02am: (Galas) The weather is clear in Galas with a slight overcast, with no rain this morning despite the steady downpour last night, though the overcast and streaks of grey in the clouds may spell rain later in the day.

At the SK Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra polling station in the PAS stronghold of Sg Terah, the PAS candidate Dr Zulkefli Mohamad arrives with Kelantan MB Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Zulkefli is facing BN-Umno candidate Abdul Aziz Yusof in this state seat. While Galas is an Umno stronghold, PAS was able to wrest it in the 2008 general elections and Zulkefli is seeking to ensure that the seat will remain with the Islamic party.

This by-election will make no difference to PAS' control of the state assemby. It captured 38 of the 45 state seats in Kelantan, while ally PKR won one and Umno, six. 

(Source : MalaysiaKini)