PKR claims victory before vote counting starts.(updated)

Anwar won 61% of vote: PKR exit polls

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's PKR said today its exit polls indicate he has won 61 percent of the votes in a by-election expected to return him to parliament.
"From our exit poll figures and what we are tracking, Anwar is safely leading in the polls and... I think that it is right to say about 61 percent," said Sivarasa Rasiah, PKR vice-president.
Sivarasa said that Anwar's opponent from the Barisan Nasional coalition, Arif Shah Omar Shah, had garnered about 39 percent of the vote.
EC secretary said , 53% voters turnout as at 3pm.
According to BN officials, they believe Arif Shah will win by slim majority judging from their exit polls figures. The poll stations will close at 5pm and soon after that the counting starts.We can expect the official result at 9pm.
At 4.35pm Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is understood to have left Penang to Kuala Lumpur, an early indication that the premier has accepted defeat and has no reason to stay back
7.20pm: Unofficial results so far: Anwar 5,855; Arif Shah 1,910
7.25pm: There are signs of significant swing to PKR despite the lower turnout. In the state constituency of Penanti, which PKR won at the March 8 general elections, the party has bagged the sole polling station, Telok Wang, it failed to win five months ago.
March 8 result: BN - 261 votes, PKR - 227
Aug 26 result: BN - 232 votes, PKR - 260
7.43pm The EC starts to announce official results as per the ballot boxes it has counted. As it stands, Anwar is leading by 3,507 votes (or 48.11 percent).
The breakdown is as follows: Akim's Hanafi Hamat (nine votes), Anwar (5,398 votes) and Arif Shah (1,891).
So far 20 ballot boxes of a total of 111 have been opened and counted. Anwar had won in ALL these 20 boxes. In one particular box, he had obtained 441 votes compared to Arif's 14.
8pm Anwar leading by 14000 votes