(The Edge filepix by Zahid Izzani)

PUTRAJAYA (Aug 24): The Election Commission (EC) has fixed Oct 7 as polling day for the Pelangai state seat by-election in Pahang.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said nomination and early voting for the by-election have been fixed for Sept 23 and Oct 3 respectively.

He announced this at a press conference after chairing a special EC meeting at Menara SPR here on Thursday (Aug 24) to decide the important dates related to the Pelangai state seat by-election.

The Pelangai state by-election was called, following the death of its incumbent Datuk Seri Johari Harun, 53, who was killed in the plane crash near Bandar Elmina, Shah Alam on Aug 17.

Apart from Johari, who was also Pahang Local Government, Housing, Environment and Green Technology Committee chairman, nine others died in the crash involving the Beechcraft Model 390 (Premier 1) aircraft.

The Pelangai by-election is the fourth by-election after the 15th general election (GE15) in November last year.

Abdul Ghani said the electoral roll (DPPR) that will be used for the Pelangai by-election is up to date until the May 2023 supplementary DPPR, which was updated until Aug 17, 2023.

“The DPPR for the Pelangai by-election contains a total of 16,456 voters, consisting of 16,417 ordinary voters, 36 policemen and three overseas absentee voters,” he said.

He said the estimated cost of the by-election is RM2.1 million.

Abdul Ghani said a total of 312 staffers will be appointed to handle the by-election process and that a returning officer who will be assisted by three assistant returning officers have been appointed to carry out the by-election.

He said nine normal polling centres with 30 voting streams will be in use on polling day, while one (polling) centre with a single stream for early voting.

Abdul Ghani said the nomination centre and vote tallying centre for the by-election is Dewan Orang Ramai Felda Kemasul.

He said the campaigning period has been set for 14 days, starting after the announcement of the candidates running on Sept 23 until 11.59pm on Oct 6, 2023.

“Two election campaign enforcement teams have been set up by the EC to monitor campaign activities throughout the official campaigning period,” he said. The teams are made up of representatives from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), local authorities and representatives of candidates contesting.

He said the application process for all overseas and domestic postal vote categories for the by-election will be opened online from Aug 24.

The closing dates for applications are Sept 19 for category 1A (election officials, EC members/officers, police, military and media personnel), Sept 2 for category 1B (Malaysian citizens who are abroad), and Sept 5 for category 1C (agencies/organisations).

Voting information check to find out polling station, voting stream and list number can be done through the portal at the link https://mysprsemak.spr.gov.my, the MySPR Semak application, or contact the EC hotline at 03-8892 7018/ 7218/ 7124, which will be open from Sept 18 .

Abdul Ghani urged prospective candidates for the by-election to fill out and make an initial review of the filling of the nomination form with the returning officer’s office involved, or the Pahang state election office before nomination day to facilitate the nomination process.

However, nomination papers that have been completed and checked by the returning officer’s office must be submitted by the candidate or his proposer or seconder during nomination day, at the nomination centre (PPC) designated by the EC.

Abdul Ghani said the EC also invited any government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or bodies interested in becoming election observers to see the by-election process from the day candidates are nominated until the election results are announced.

“They are allowed to make observations such as at the nomination centre, polling centre, vote counting centre and official vote tallying centre, and must comply with all the appointment conditions that have been set,” he said.