PUTRAJAYA: The Semenyih by-election will be held on March 2, said Election Commission (EC) chairman Azhar Azizan Harun.
He said nomination would be on Feb 16, while early voting on Feb 26.
“The campaign period will be for 14 days, to start after the nomination of candidates until 11.59 pm on March 1, 2019,” he told a media conference after chairing the meeting on the by-election here today.
Azhar said the electoral roll to be used for the by-election would be until the third quarter of 2018 and would be available for sale from Feb 12.
It contained 54,503 voters, comprising 53,520 ordinary voters, 51 early voters and 32 absentee voters, he added.
Azhar said the EC was targeting 70% voter turnout for the Semenyih state by-election.
He said the EC had agreed to appoint Kajang Municipal Council president Datuk Mohd Sayuthi Bakar as returning officer and 992 workers for the Semenyih by-election.
The Seri Cempaka Hall of the Kajang Municipal Council wat Saujana Impian will be used as the nomination centre and the official vote-tallying centre, he added.
He said a new polling centre would be set up, bringing the total to 26 in the constituency, with 31 new polling streams, bringing the total to 119, to expedite the voting process.
This by-election is expected to cost RM1.8 million, he added.
As being implemented for the Cameron Highlands by-election, Azhar said the EC would provide a live crossover on the nomination,early voting, polling, vote-counting and announcement on the results on its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/sprgovmy/.
The Semenyih by-election is the sixth to be held after the 14th general election on May 9 last year, with the first for the state constituencies of Sungai Kandis on Aug 4, Balakong and Seri Setia (Sept 8) and for the parliamentary constituencies of Port Dickson (Oct 13) and Cameron Highlands (Jan 26).
It is called following the death of State Assemblyman Bakhtiar Mohd Nor from a heart attack last Jan 11.
In the last general election, Bakhtiar, of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), won the seat in a four-cornered fight against Datuk Johan Abd Aziz (BN), Mad Shahmidur Mat Kosim (PAS) and S. Arutchelvan (PSM), with a majority of 8,964 votes.
Bakhtiar, who was Hulu Langat PPBM division chief, secured 23,428 votes. — Bernama
