Election Commission officers deployed to Ba Kelalan highlands

http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=121909

Posted on April 16, 2011, Saturday

LAWAS: The Election Commission (EC) flew eight teams of Sarawak state election officers to the highlands in Ba Kelalan constituency yesterday by chartered fixed wing aircraft.

They will be stationed in Bario, Ba Kelalan and Long Lelang, with the furthest voting station being at Pa Ramudu.

The fixed wing aircraft from Layang-Layang Aerospace took off in fine weather from Lawas Airport at about 10.30am, supervised by N71 Ba Kelalan returning officer Ladin Atok.

He said a total of 27 teams have been deployed throughout the sprawling rural constituency with 6,985 registered voters.

The announcement of official results for Ba Kelalan would depend on the time the last team from the highlands reaches the counting centre at the Lawas District Council, with weather being the deciding factor.

The results of the 2004 by-election were held back by a day because votes from Long Lelang failed to reach Lawas on the same day. Throughout this week, the weather in the interior of Lawas and Baram has been rainy in the afternoons.

Ba Kelalan will see a straight fight between Willie Liau from Barisan Nasional (BN) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) Baru Bian.