PETALING JAYA: The nomination process turned out to be a rocky road for some candidates, even among political veterans, with screw-ups even costing some aspirants their seats.
Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary candidate, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, faced a moment of panic on the way to the nomination centre yesterday morning when she realised that her MyKad was not with her.
She was forced to turn back to retrieve her document from some of her officers.
Dr Wan Azizah said she kept her MyKad along with her electoral candidate tag holder.
Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for the Kemayan state seat, Manolan Mohamad, was not so lucky, as his candidacy was rejected due to his address being outside of Pahang.
News reports quoted Pahang Election Commission director Datuk Zamree Hamli as saying that the address in Manolan’s IC is in Shah Alam.
“As per EC’s conditions, candidates contesting in any state seat have to reside in the state they are contesting in. Hence, EC had to reject his nomination form,” he was quoted as saying.
In Ipoh, 76-year-old petition writer Vadivelu Nadaraja’s hopes were dashed after his nomination papers for the Buntong state seat were rejected as his proposer’s address was not in Buntong.
His family had pooled their savings to help him pay for the RM5,000 candidacy deposit.
However, matters turned serious in Sabah when a mini riot was sparked by supporters of the Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat, after its party president Datuk Peter Anthony’s nomination for the Tenom seat was rejected by the EC.
The ruckus by a rowdy crowd outside the nomination centre in Tenom forced the Light Strike Force personnel to fire tear gas.
The police said the situation was later brought under control and no reports of injuries were received so far.
Anthony’s nomination papers were purportedly rejected on the grounds that his prior conviction by a Sessions Court on May 26 for a document forgery case.
At a press conference later, Anthony said he was perplexed at the EC’s decision to reject his nomination papers as the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court had allowed a stay on his conviction and sentence.
Anthony said he will file a review on the EC’s decision at the High Court on Nov 7.
