Voter turnout exceeds target despite stringent SOP - Ismail Sabri

PEKAN, July 4 -- Despite concerns over the spread of COVID-19 infection, this has not deterred voters from fulfilling their responsibilities and turning up to vote for the Chini state seat by-election, as the voter turnout has exceeded the 70 per cent target.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the target was achieved even though the local and outstation voters had to go through stringent standard operating procedures (SOP) during the voting process.

“Overall, the SOPs were followed and enforcement officers in uniform were there to help monitor and ensure the SOP compliance.

"The only thing that was difficult to adhere to was maintaining social distance. Other than that all went smoothly as we had no problems with the body temperature checks and hand sanitisation when entering the polling centre," he said when met here today.

As of 4pm, 72 per cent of the 20,816 ordinary voters in the Chini constituency had cast their vote, surpassing the Election Commission's initial target of 70 per cent.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri once again reiterated that Malaysia has still not allowed foreigners to enter the country except for diplomats, Malaysia My Second Home programme participants, students and EP1 category top management expatriates. 

"Although we have of late recorded single digit COVID-19 positive cases, on the advise of the Ministry of Health,  Malaysia is still not ready to open its borders, just as with other countries, with the exception of Britain, which did so yesterday," he said.

In this regard, he said the headline by a news portal yesterday about the National Security Council being in discussion to allow Chinese nationals entry into the country, is inaccurate and misleading.

-- BERNAMA