PUTRAJAYA: The Tanjung Piai by-election in Johor will be held on Nov 16, Election Commission chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun announced today.
Nomination will be held on Nov 2 while early voting on Nov 12, he told a press conference after chairing a special meeting to determine the important dates for the by-election at the EC headquarters here.
The by-election has been necessitated by the death of the MP, Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, of Pakatan Harapan-Bersatu on Sept 21 of heart complications. He was 42.
Dr Md Farid, who was a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and an anaesthesiologist by profession, had helped PH capture the seat in the 14th general election in May 2018.
The deputy chairman of the Bersatu Tanjung Piai division had polled 21,255 votes to beat Datuk Seri Wee Jeck Seng (BN-MCA) and Nordin Othman (PAS) by 524 votes. Wee had garnered 20,731 votes and Nordin, 2,962 votes.
The Tanjung Piai by-election is the ninth (by-election) after the 14th general election (GE14) on May 9, 2018.
The others were the Sungai Kandis, Balakong, Seri Setia, Semenyih and Rantau state by-elections while the parliamentary ones were for Cameron Highlands, Port Dickson and Sandakan.
“The campaign period is 14 days, “said Azhar, adding that it will start after the announcement of candidates till 11.59pm on Nov 15.
He said the EC will be using Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim, Pontian as the nomination and vote tallying centre.
The estimated cost to conduct the Tanjung Piai by-election was RM2.67 million and would involve 1,019 staff, he said.
Azhar said the electoral roll to be used would be the one up to the second quarter of 2019 and updated till Sept 23, 2019.
“The electoral roll (for the constituency) has 52,986 voters made up of 52,698 ordinary voters, 280 early voters and eight absentee voters (who are abroad),” he said.
Azhar said the EC targeted a 70 per cent voter turnout.
He said the EC was making improvements for this by-election whereby two voting streams will be made available for voters aged 60 and above at each polling centre as well extending the voting period, from 8 am to 5.30 pm as compared to voting ending at 5 pm in GE14.
Other improvements that will be made for this by-election are adding 26 new voting streams to avoid congestion, bringing the number of voting streams to 127, as compared to 101 in GE14.
Disabled voters will be using Voting Stream 1, Azhar said, adding that their number was 981 and were registered with the Welfare department.
Azhar added that the EC would be sending voter cards containing details on polling centre, voting stream, number of voters (for the polling centre), date and voting period to all voters in Tanjung Piai.
From Oct 16, the voters can also get all these information at the EC’s portal www.spr.gov.my, by calling 03-88927018, via the Short-Messaging System (SMS) to 15888 or the smartphone application MySPR Semak.
Azhar said nomination forms can be bought from Oct 8 at the Returning Officer’s office, the Pontian District Office, the EC’s office in Johor or at the EC headquarters.
“To facilitate the nomination process, the candidates are urged to fill up the forms and make checks early on at the Returning Officer’s office or EC office in Johor, that is before nomination day,”he added.
Candidates are also advised to settle their deposits earlier towards ensuring the nomination process is done smoothly and fast. – Bernama
