SIBU: The Election Commission (EC) has denied allegations by DAP that it deliberately delayed announcing the result of the Sibu by-election last night.
Its chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said it was the party's agents who had prevented EC officers from bringing postal ballots which had been counted at the 9th Floor, Wisma Sanyan here, to the vote tallying centre at the Sibu Civic Centre, located just three kilometres away.
As a result, the assistant returning officer in charge of postal votes had to call in the police to bring the situation under control," he told Bernama and RTM (Radio Television Malaysia).
"This is the first time I encountered such an incident, besides my officers constantly being harrased by them (opposition)," he said.
Because of the delay, the result was only able to be announced by Returning Officer Wong See Meng at 11pm, although the EC had expected to release the result by 9pm.
DAP's Wong Ho Leng won the by-election with a majority of 398 votes. He received 18,845 votes to beat Barisan Nasional's Robert Lau Hui Yew who obtained 18,447 votes and Independent candidate Narawi Haron who only managed 232 votes.
There was a total of 2,429 postal votes in this by-election.
Decorum not observed
Abdul Aziz said he also regretted the attitude of several opposition leaders from outside Sarawak, who according to him, did not observe decorum when they were at the vote tallying centre (Sibu Civic Centre).
"They were trying to show they could do anything they liked without any regard as to the rules to be observed when votes are being tallied.
“This is not good and should not have been displayed to the locals here who have utmost respect for each other irrespective political affiliation," he said.
Overall, Abdul Aziz said this by-election could be described as the best as compared to other by-elections held before this.
- Bernama
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