Published: Friday February 13, 2009 MYT 12:07:00 PM
Updated: Friday February 13, 2009 MYT 3:32:46 PM
By-elections: Nomination on March 29, polling April 7 (Update 2)
By DHARMENDER SINGH
PUTRAJAYA: The by-elections for the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat and Bukit Selambau state seat will be held simultaneously, with nominations held on March 29 and polling on April 7.
Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the Commission decided to hold the by-elections simultaneously to keep the campaign period shorter.
He said the dates were chosen taking into account the comfort and convenience of all involved, as a shorter campaign period would be less hectic for party leaders and help towards maintaining public order and security.
He said the Commission, which discussed the by-elections during a special meeting Friday morning, pushed the nomination date to almost the end of March as it thought this would allow the current political situation in Perak to cool off.
Bukit Gantang is located in the state of Perak, which just saw a swicth in governments.
“But at the same time the laws state that by-elections must be held within 60 days of a seat becoming vacant; the period for the Bukit Selambau state seat expires on April 9, so we decided to choose April 7 for polling,” he told a press conference here.
The Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in Perak fell vacant following the death of its MP Roslan Shahrum on Feb 9, while the Bukit Selambau state seat in Kedah fell vacant after its assemblyman V. Arumugam resigned on Feb 8.
Abdul Aziz also said that the decision for the simultaneous by-elections was not due to any political reason and this was not the first time that the Commission had made such a decision.
He said the same had been done 17 times since 1975, with the last being for the by-elections for the Pendang parliamentary seat and Anak Bukit state seat in Kedah in 2002.
Asked if having polling day on a Tuesday would affect voter turnout, he said he did not think so as the lower turnout during the recent by-election in Kuala Terengganu had shown that people would stay away or return to vote regardless of whether it was a weekend or weekday.
“We are hoping to see a 90% voter turnout and I urge voters to turn out in force to carry out their responsibility,” he said.
Abdul Aziz said the Commission had decided that the master electoral roll for 2007, combined with the list of new voters registered until the first quarter of 2008, would be used for both constituencies.
According to the list, he said, there were 55,562 registered voters including 136 postal voters in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary constituency, and 35,140 voters including 15 postal voters at the Bukit Selambau state constituency.
The nomination and counting centres in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau will be set up at the Taiping Municipal Council and SMK Teknik I Sungai Petani halls respectively.
He said registered voters could check for their information and polling stations on the Commission website at www.spr.gov.my or by typing SPR and their identity card number and sending an SMS to 15888.
They can also call the Commission headquarters in Putrajaya or their state Commission office.
Abdul Aziz said the Commission would also set up three Campaign Enforcement teams comprising a police officer, local authority representative and representatives of the candidates to monitor the activities from nomination day to the end of polling at 5pm on April 7.
The Commission, he said, had also agreed to allow Malaysia For Free and Fair Election (Mafrel) to act as an observer during the by-elections.
He also urged all quarters to obey the directives from the police in order to maintain security during the nominations, campaigning and polling.
Political drama
Arumugam, who was also a Kedah state executive council member, quit because of allegations surrounding his second marriage.
In his resignation letter to Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak, he had also appended a statutory declaration alleging that he was being harassed and pressured by certain elements in Barisan Nasional to jump ship from PKR.
In the 12th general election last March, Arumugam had contested as an independent against MIC secretary S. Krishnan, beating him by a 2,362-vote majority. He joined PKR after that.
Arumugam has been missing since then. Attempts to contact him or his family have been futile.
Azizan said that the state would continue searching for Arumugam, who has been missing over the past few days, and that his state exco portfolios would be handled by state Tourism, Community Development and Human Resources Committee chairman Mohammad Radzhi Salleh.
Arumugam had chaired the Domestic, Trade and Consumer Affairs, Unity, Siamese Community Affairs, Estate Workers and Indian Community Affairs Committee.
The Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau by-elections would make it four by-elections to be held since the 12th general election last March.
The first was in Permatang Pauh last year when its Member of Parliament Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail stepped down to make way for her husband, now Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to contest.
Anwar won the seat, which marked his return to Parliament after a decade.
The second was in Kuala Terenganu in January following the death of its MP Datuk Razali Ismail last Nov 28.
PAS candidate Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut won the seat, beating Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh and independent Azharuddin Mamat @ Adam.
The late Bukit Gantang MP Roslan, 50, who leaves behind a wife and 11 children, was formerly the human resource director of Perak Economic Development Corporation.
Last July, he was named chairman of Perak’s education foundation, Yayasan Perak.
In the March 8 general election last year, Roslan had polled 20,015 votes against Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi’s (Barisan Nasional) 18,449 votes.
The third candidate was an independent, M. Morgan, who got 872 votes.
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