Apr 21, 2013-DAP Sri Tanjong candidate Chan Foong Hin got a fright yesterday when his name did not appear in the Election Commission’s (EC) final list of candidates, although his nomination was accepted by the returning officer in the morning.
In fact, at the time of writing, Chan’s name is still not in the EC’s list of candidates contesting the seat located in the Tawau parliamentary constituency.
“Shocked” by this, Chan (right) said his election agent had checked with an EC officer and was told it was a “technical glitch”.
“According to the returning officer, he said once a candidacy is announced on the spot, it should be no problem.
“(He said) it is a technical fault due to fax or internet transmission (issues),” he said when contacted.
Chan added that he will issue a legal letter demanding an official reply, if the list has not been updated to reflect his candidacy by tomorrow.
“It is totally undemocratic if someone who has been nominated as a candidate is dropped from the list before polling is conducted,” he said.
Campaign point
Turning this issue into a campaign point, he added that it is also a reflection of the poor infrastructure in Tawau under the BN administration.
The final list of candidates for the nation was only released by the EC by late afternoon yesterday, despite most nominations completed by noon.
It took about four hours for the names for the candidates for Tawau and the three state seats located there – Sri Tanjong, Apas and Balung – to make it to the EC’s main database.
At present, the EC list shows that Sri Tanjong will see a three-corner fight between BN’s Fung Len Fui, Star’s Olivia Chong and SAPP’s Yong Ah Poh.
In 2008, the seat was won by DAP’s Jimmy Wong with a majority of 1172, versus PKR and BN.
