PUTRAJAYA — The Chini state by-election in Pahang will be held on July 4 with nomination set for June 20 and early voting on June 30.
Election Commission chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun (pic) announced the important dates at a press conference after the EC held a special meeting on the by-election here today.
The seat fell vacant after the incumbent, Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Harun, 60, from Barisan Nasional, died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital of a heart attack on May 6.
In the 14th general election (GE14) held in May 2018, Abu Bakar polled 10,027 votes to win the seat by a majority of 4,622 votes against PAS candidate Mohd Fadhil Noor Abdul Karim who obtained 5,405 votes and Mohamad Razali Ithnain of PKR (1,065 votes) .
Azhar said the campaign period is for 14 days beginning after the nomination process until 11.59 pm on July 3.
Applications for postal voting is from today and closes on June 18, he said.
“The estimated cost to conduct this by-election is RM4.3 million,” he said at the press conference held at Menara SPR.
Azhar said the EC will be using the main hall of Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara (IKBN) in Pekan as the nomination and vote-tallying centres.
He said a total of 832 staffers would be mobilised to handle the polling process and that Pekan district officer Datuk Zaliza Zulkipli has been appointed as the Returning Officer.
Azhar said 14 polling centres with 66 voting streams would be utilised for polling, and that the EC would also be providing special lanes for voters 60 years and above while OKU (people with disabilities) can use Stream 1.
“The Electoral Roll that will be used for this by-election is the Master Electoral Roll 2019 updated as of May 7, 2020. The updated one has 20,990 registered voters for this constituency, consisting of 20,972 ordinary voters and 18 early voters who are police,” he said, adding that the EC targeted a 70 per cent voter turnout.
From June 3, he said, the voters can check the Electoral Roll to get details on polling centres, voting streams and their index numbers at the EC’s portal at www.spr.gov.my or calling 03-88927018, or via SMS to 15888 or through the MySPR Semak application.
On the nomination process, Azhar said the candidates are encouraged to fill in the forms and clear them early at the Returning Officer’s office or at the Pahang branch office of the EC before Nomination Day.
It is also recommended that they make their deposits online earlier to smoothen the nomination process so that it can end earlier.
— BERNAMA
