Reporting from ground zero in Kuala Terengganu

9.29 Update

PAS has taken an unassailable lead.

Yes, the good people of Kuala Terengganu have risen to the occasion.

Pakatan Rakyat has taken one more seat in Parliament and we are that much closer to Putrajaya.

This is my last report. Want to join the celebration on the streets.

Will post on the victory celebration that’s unfolding here a little later.

See you all in PJ tomorrow.

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9.08pm Update

The team at the PAS IT centre has reported that the tallying process has stopped as PAS has declared victory based on unofficial reports that PAS has won by a majority of 2,616.

I don’t know if I will be able to give you any further updates here from the team at the IT Centre.

Will await any further updates from other sources, if any.

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8.47pm Update

I am informed that the voter turnout has been revised to 69.7%.

People, I am just as baffled but this is info coming out of the PAS IT centre, which is being received from the counting centre

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8.45pm Update

Total votes reportedly cast : 80,229

Counted up to now : 55,860

PAS : 28,446

UMNO : 26,726

Independent : 160

Spoilt votes : 528

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8.40pm Update

Total votes reportedly cast : 80,229

Counted up to now : 53,647

PAS : 27,488

UMNO : 25,503

Independent : 152

Spoilt votes : 504

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8.25pm Update

Total votes reportedly cast : 80,229

Counted up to now : 52,466

PAS : 26,971

UMNO : 24,839

Independent : 152

Spoilt votes : 504

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8.23pm Update

Total votes reportedly cast : 80,229

Counted up to now : 49,441

PAS : 26,239

UMNO : 24,083

Independent : 149

Spoilt votes : 483

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8.16pm Update

Total votes reportedly cast : 80,226

Counted up to now : 47,580

PAS : 24,604

UMNO : 21,884

Independent : 138

Spoilt votes : 454

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8.09 Update

Total votes reportedly cast : 80,229

PAS : 23,640

UMNO : 21,614

Independent : 136

Spoilt votes : Either 120 0r 420

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7.51pm Update

The guys are in the IT Centre.

As at now, 43,000 votes have been counted.

PAS : 22,030

UMNO : 20,476

Independent : 134

Spoilt votes : Either 120 0r 420

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7.24pm Update

Four of us left the hotel at 5.45pm, headed for the PAS IT centre where the results would be received from the counting centre. We were hoping to report to you from there.

The traffic was havoc owing to road closures and the diversion of traffic by the police.

A little after 6pm, whilst still on the road, we received news from PAS that after 6,000 votes had been counted, PAS had a 500-majority lead.

By 6.25pm, it was clear that we were not getting anywhere, so we turned back, and headed for the hotel, whilst arrangements were made for three motorcycles to be waiting at the hotel.

I’m now based at the hotel, whilst the other three are on their way to the IT centre on bikes , but are still having difficulty getting there.

We’ve just received unconfirmed reports that pass obtained a 500-majority from votes cast in Kampung Cina. I emphasise that this is unconfirmed.

Also received a call to say that the Malaysiakini report that BN is slightly in the lead is not correct. Am trying to confirm this now.

Please be patient with us.

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5.15pm – Reporting from the Barisan Rakyat Operations Centre

Voting should have stopped 15 minutes ago. Will take a short break now. Will try to get into the PAS counting centre and report from there

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4.29pm – Viveg reporting

At the Sekolah Kebangsaan Tengku Ampuan Mariam polling station, voter turnout is about 65%. Mainly elderly. Not much crowd here at this time. YB Husam Musa has just arrived

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4.15pm – Viveg reporting

At Kampong Cina at the Dewan Tun Abdul Razak polling station which is next to a police station, PAS monitors noticed that a rear gate adjuncting the police station had suddenly been unlocked. PAS monitors took it upon themselves to padlock that gate. Suddenly another rear gate was opened. This gate is now being guarded by PAS volunteers.

Voter turnout here, mostly the younger generation, is about 60%

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4.00pm – Viveg reporting

With one hour of voting time left, at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Kapas ( DUN Ladang ) polling station, voter turnout is approximately 55%. The earlier sms to the polling station in Pasir Panjang has gone out to to all PAS pondok panas. here, Pas volunteers are being mobilised to be on hand and on high alert for the presence of pengundi hantu.

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Din Marican’s final report

For every 5 voters he spoke to, 4 had voted PAS. The Chinese that he spoke to were overwhelmingly with PAS

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3.34pm – Viveg reporting

At the Sekolah Pasir Panjang polling station, voter turnout as at 2.30pm is about 70%. mostly elderly. Supporters there now mostly from PAS. Hardly any UMNO presence. However, the PAS pondok panas has just received an sms that 400 pengundi hantu UMNO are headed towards this polling station. Viveg is waiting there to keep us updated if there are any developments on this story.

The sms reads : mulai 3ptg, 400 skuad khas UMNO akn keluar mngundi yg diiringi pasokan khasBN, masuk pintu dpn/blkang, mng undi 4-5 tmpt-hrp kwln kslmtn kmas.arhn dato pa ali

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3.31pm Random information received

10 roadblocks set up in the town area

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3.25pm – Viveg  reporting

Reprting from the Kuala Ibai, police have closed of some roads and turned others into one-way routes, ostensibly to ease the heavy traffic congestion. However, what seems strange is that they appear to be diverting traffic away from the polling stations.

Bona fide or not, that is the question?

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Earlier reports from Viveg whilst I was having lunch

At 3pm, at the Sekolah Sultan Sulaiman polling station, voter turnout was reported at about 50-55%. FRU had to step in and prevent UMNO supporters from preventing PAS supporters from having a view of the polling station

At 2.49pm, at the Sekolah Menengah Agama Zainal Abidin ( DUN Batu Burok ). Voter turnout about 58%, mostly elderly. 70% turnout expected. Situation very quiet. No issue of phantom voters.

At 2.30pm, at a Chinese school ( sorry, he mentioned the name but I forgot to write it down )  in the DUN Bandar area, voter turnout reportedly poor.

At 2.15pm, at Wakaf Mempelam, voter turnout around 35-50%. PAS supporters largely outnumber UMNO’s

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3.11pm – Viveg  reporting

From the polling station at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kuala Ibai ( DUN Batu Burok )

Voter turnout up to now is about 70%, mostly elderly voters.

There was slight friction here in the morning between the competing supporters but all is relatively quiet, although there is quite large presence of supporters from both sides.

FRU also present.

MB Ahmad Said has just arrived here. Appears to be disappointed that PAS supporters outnumber UMNO by 3:1. He’s gone round to shake hands with the PAS supporters as well.

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Just got back to the hotel.

We hit the streets at 9.30 this morning.

Around the corner from the hotel, which is on Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin, is the polling centre at Sekolah Agama Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin.

Having been to Pasir Panjang, Kuala Ibai and Batu Burok subsequently, the whole team was unanimous in that the crowd was most vociferous along Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin.

The traffic along many roads is very congested leaving us with the initial impression that this may be reflective of a very good voter turnout today. However, just been alerted that this may be attributed to an influx of local tourists. If you know any of these tourists who are presently in Kuala Terengganu, please, please request them to not congest the roads.

The one other thing that caught my attention was how, at some stretches of the road, PAS and UMNO supporters intermingled. It was good to see that as they rivalled each other to get the attention of prospective voters passing by, goodwill had not been lost.

You sense that there is still tremendous hope for our country.

We have deployed several of the team out on the streets to report back. Delcapo and Viveg have just got their hands on a motorcycle and will be reporting back to base as and when. Din Marican is also doubling up as a roving reporter. A couple of YBs have also promised to keep us posted.

For now, I can tell you that the voter turnout at Kamoung Cina, Kampong Nibong and Cabang Tiga, all in the DUN area of Bandar, has been reported to be  very good.

I’m off for a quick lunch and will back soon to update you with the latest news.

Leave you with photos taken this morning.

Posted in: KT by-election