By Jaythaleela K
MIRI, Nov 19: After 14 days of campaigning since nomination day on Nov 5, the responsibility of deciding the next representative for P219 Miri now lies in the hands of voters.
At SJK (C) Chung San, a growing stream of people came out to cast their votes despite soggy weather this morning.
So far, the voting process has been running smoothly, handled by Election Commission (EC) workers.
Amongst the early voters were P219 Miri candidate, Cr Jeffery Phang (Gabungan Parti Sarawak-Sarawak United Peoples’ Party or GPS-SUPP) at 7.25am.
He was accompanied by his wife Hii Wei Keong, Minister of Transport Sarawak Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin, Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts I Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew, and Miri Mayor Adam Yii Siew Sang.
Phang and Hii casted their votes at 7.58am.
In the 15th General Election (GE15), P219 Miri is seeing a three-cornered fight between Phang, Parti Sarawak Bersatu’s (PSB) Datuk Lawrence Lai who is also a former Miri Mayor, and Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Chiew Choon Man, 31.
Meanwhile, Lai of PSB casted his vote at SK Pujut Corner, while PKR’s Chiew did the same at SMK Riam.
P219 Miri, based on EC statistics, has a total of 143,229 voters, of which 40,987 are those aged from 18 to 29-years-old.
For the past two terms, the constituency was represented by PKR.
In GE15, Lai is the more senior politician compared to Phang and Chiew who are making their electoral debut. — DayakDaily
