KUALA TERENGGANU, Malaysia: Voting began Saturday in a hotly contested by-election in Malaysia's northeast, seen as a test of the government's support after a dismal performance in general elections last year.
The vote for a vacant parliamentary seat in Kuala Terengganu, the capital of Terengganu state, pits the ruling coalition against the conservative Islamic party PAS, which is a member of the three-party opposition alliance.
Both candidates said they were hopeful of victory but opinion polls suggest it is too close to call. The support of majority Muslim Malays is split, while the small ethnic Chinese community is leaning towards the opposition.
"I'm quite happy with the support shown by the Malay and Chinese voters," PAS candidate Mohammad Abdul Wahid Endut said as he cast his ballot at a polling booth at a school.
"Whether it turns into votes is another matter, I leave the outcome of this election to the voters and to Allah," he said as he stood alongside his wife and five of his nine children.
Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, who is contesting for the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition which has ruled Malaysia for half a century, also said he was confident voters would back him.
"I have faith in the voters, I know they will vote intelligently, they will vote for continuity, they will vote for BN," he said.
Election Commission officials told state media they were hoping for a high turnout among the 80,229 voters who are eligible to cast their ballots from 8:00 am (0000 GMT) at 143 polling stations.
They said that the short lines of voters at polling booths during the morning was normal and that the pace would pick up in the afternoon.
Supporters from both sides were out in full force though, swamping polling stations with a sea of green PAS posters and blue BN banners and chanting government and opposition slogans under the eye of a heavy police presence.
Nor Sakinah Abdul Halim said after casting his ballot that he thought PAS had the upper hand in the hard-fought contest.
"I think PAS stands a better chance because Mohammad Abdul has already been a state representative for five terms and he is more friendly and not as elitist as his BN opponent," the technician told AFP.
However, Salmi Jalil, a telecommunications company employee, felt BN stood a better chance.
"I had already made up my mind much earlier on who to vote for and with my vote I want to ensure a BN victory," she told AFP.
In the lead-up to the polls, the opposition accused the government of dirty tricks including vote-buying and coercion, and a top election official quit amid allegations he pressured civil servants to support the government.
Malaysia's political top guns have descended on this beachside city to campaign for the seat, which BN won with a wafer-thin majority in the March 2008 general elections but became vacant after the death of the previous MP.
The government has promised reforms and leadership changes in a bid to regain support after losing five states and a third of parliamentary seats in the national polls.
For the opposition alliance, the by-election is a chance to show it has retained strong support and prove it is working effectively despite government claims that the alliance of three very different parties is cracking up.
The Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance is headed by Anwar Ibrahim's Keadilan party, together with PAS and the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party.
Election officials say that polling will close at 5:00 pm, with official results expected by 10:30 pm.
- AFP/yb
17/01/09
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