BAGAN Pinang initially awakened to light thunder and a drizzle on 11 Oct 2009; the kind of Sunday morning that is made for sleeping in. But today is polling day, the culmination of a week of bizarre and occasionally sluggish campaigning by both the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
It is a tense and much anticipated day by any standard. The Election Commission (EC) expects a turnout of 80% by the time polling ends. By 2pm, turnout was 59.2%, according to the EC’s hourly updates.
PAS and Umno supporters have been lining up outside the polling stations, taunting each other. Intermittent scuffles have been reported. Jalan Pantai in Port Dickson remains jammed with vehicles bearing both Negeri Sembilan and out-of-town number plates.
The BN is tipped to win the contest in this state seat. But with such a taut polling day atmosphere, the rest of the country will be waiting to see if Bagan Pinang springs any surprises when the results are announced tonight. 
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davis says
BN won by a larger majority. Wonder if the utterances and actions of Dr Hasan Ali contributed to the defeat of the PAS candidate?
Nicholas Aw says
Congratulations to BN/Umno and Isa Samad for winning the battle as expected. When you go into battle by putting up a tainted candidate with lots of money, such a win cannot be denied.
PKR, you did your best and although it would have been wonderful to continue with the winning streak, as anticpated, you lost.
Let this be a lesson for both BN/Umno and PKR to look at the bigger picture. There is a lot of homework to be done. The real test is the war of GE13.
In my opinion many [including yours sincerely] would like to see a clean, efficient government so we will watch BN/Umno rule and see whether they walk the talk failing which the vote will go to PKR. Some say that the latter lack experience in ruling at the federal level which is obviously true but if the rakyat do not give them a chance to prove their worth, how would we know that they have the ability to do so?
We will wait for GE13 before deciding at the ballot box.