PUTRAJAYA: Polling day for the Bagan Pinang by-election is set for Oct 11 while nomination is on Oct 3, the Election Commission (EC) announced.
Its chairman Tan Sri Aziz Yusoff said both nomination and polling day would be on a weekend following “feedback” received by the EC. Oct 3 is a Saturday and Oct 11, a Sunday.
“The polling date is on a weekend not because the seat is a Barisan Nasional stronghold but to ensure better voter turnout.
“We have held several by-elections on weekdays where voter turnout was still good.
“The Manek Urai by-election was held on a weekday with 88% casting their votes,” he told a press conference here to announce the polling and nomination dates for the Bagan Pinang by-election yesterday.
This will be the ninth by-election after the March 8 general election in 2008.
The Bagan Pinang state seat in Negri Sembilan fell vacant after the death of the Barisan assemblyman Azman Mohammad Noor on Sept 4.
According to the EC records as of Sept 4, the Bagan Pinang constituency has 13,664 registered voters, including 4,604 postal voters, comprising 8,577 Malays (62.77%), 2,834 Indians (20.74%), 1,498 Chinese (10.96%) and 755 others (5.53%).
Those aged 21 to 39 made up 50.39% of the electorate and there are nine registered voters who are more than 100 years old – the oldest being 104.
Aziz also said that he would be calling representatives of political parties at the end of the month to inform them on the dos and don’ts during the by-election.
“We have repeatedly reminded political parties and their members and supporters of the things they are prohibited from doing during campaigning and on polling day, but there are those who still fail to heed the regulations.
“We allow the parties to go through an education period but don’t be surprised if we start taking action as sufficient reminders and warnings have been issued,” he said.
Aziz also dismissed claims that postal votes could be tampered with to help Barisan win an election, adding that when votes are cast and sealed by election officials, agents of candidates would be present during the process.
“Cheating cannot take place,” he said when commenting on claims Barisan had won the seat due to postal votes in the last election.
In the March 2008 general election, Ramli Ismail of PAS lost to Azman by a 2,333 vote-majority.
Azman polled 6,430 votes while Ramli secured 4,097. Of the 4,800 postal votes, 3,080 went to Barisan and 1,189 to PAS.
The remaining votes were either spoilt or the ballot papers were not returned.
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