KUALA BESUT, July 12- Parties contesting in the Kuala Besut by-election are not allowed to erect satirical replicas during the campaign period, said Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.
He said the ban was made for the first time by the EC to ensure that the campaign would be conducted peacefully and in harmony, especially during Ramadan without any party mocking one another.
“For example, when a party feels slighted over a replica and complain to the EC, if we do not take action, the complainant will respond the same way. There will be no end to it,” he told Bernama after an interview with RTM here today.
He said the Election Offences Act 1954 prohibited parties contesting in the election from putting up campaign materials such as pamphlets, posters, banners and replicas, which contain such elements.
“It has become a trend in Terengganu to erect replicas to mock opponents,” he said, adding that the EC would not tolerate any quarters who breach the rules.
Wan Ahmad said EC had erected two tents in the compound of the Kampung Raja Rakan Muda Complex for BN and opposition leaders for tomorrow nomination and each tent could accommodate 100 people.
If it exceeds the figure, he said the others would be turn away.
“This is out of respect to party leaders who accompany their candidate so that they will not have to stand 50 meters from the nomination centre,” he said.
The by-election has been necessitated by the death of assemblyman Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar of the BN of lung cancer on June 26.
The BN has announced Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman, 37, a civil engineer with the Drainage and Irrigation Department who hails from Kuala Besut, as its candidate while PAS has named Endut alias Azlan Yusof, 48, a contractor, as its candidate.
Meanwhile, Azlan said he was unperturbed by the BN challenge and was confident of wresting the seat.
“If the BN candidate has many family members and supporters in Kuala Besut, so do I,” he said at a news conference at the Kampung Baru PAS Office here today.
He said PAS campaigners would visit shops, offices, bazaars and public places to meet the voters.
– BERNAMA
