KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — Voting has officially closed for the concurrent Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections in Johor that both featured low turnouts across the day.

As at 4pm, the Election Commission reported a voter turnout of just 42 per cent for the federal by-election in Pulai, putting it at risk of having the lowest ever voter participation rate in the country’s history.

While turnout was also low for the Simpang Jeram by-election, it still reached 56 per cent at the same time. The EC previously targeted a turnout of 70 per cent for both polls.

Earlier today, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh blamed inclement weather on the low turnout, saying it likely prevented some voters from heading to polling stations earlier this morning.

There are 47 polling centres with 294 streams in the Pulai parliamentary constituency while the Simpang Jeram state seat has 14 centres with 68 streams.

In Pulai, Suhaizan Kaiat is defending the parliamentary seat for Pakatan Harapan (PH) against challengers Zulkifli Jaafar from Perikatan Nasional (PN) and independent Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi.

For Simpang Jeram, the candidates are Nazri Abdul Rahman (PH), Mohd Mazri Yahya (PN), and independent S. Jegananthan.

The twin by-elections were called following the July 23 death of their incumbent, the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub who was also domestic trade and living cost minister.