EC: Slim by-election on Aug 29

EC deputy chairman Dr Azmi Sharom also announced that the nomination will be on Aug 15, while early voting is on Aug 25.

“The campaigning period is set for 14 days beginning after the announcement of names of contesting candidates until 11.59 pm on Aug 28,” he told a press conference after attending the meeting on the by-election here today.

The Slim state seat fell vacant after its incumbent Datuk Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib, 59, died on July 15 at the Bentong Hospital, Pahang due to a heart attack.

Mohd Khusairi who represented Barisan Nasional had retained the seat with a majority of 2,183 votes in the 14th General Election in 2018 in a three-cornered contest among Bersatu’s Mohd Amran Ibrahim and Muhammad Zulfadli Zainal of PAS.

The Slim state by-election is the 12th by-election held after 14th General Election.

The previous 11 by-elections were held for Sungai Kandis state seat, Balakong state seat, Seri Setia state seat, Port Dickson parliamentary seat, Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat, Semenyih state seat, Rantau state seat, Sandakan parliamentary seat, Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat, Kimanis parliamentary seat and Chini state seat.

Azmi said the Master Electoral Roll 2019 and the 2020 First Quarter Supplementary Electoral Roll updated as of July 16 would be used for the Slim by-election and would be available for purchase from Aug 5.

Slim has 23,094 registered voters comprising 22,815 normal voters, 277 police early voters as well as two absentee voters overseas.

“The EC targets 70 per cent voter turnout for the by-election. The EC also requests for cooperation from all quarters including the media and political parties to encourage all voters to fulfil their responsibilities,” he said.

Voters can check the details of their polling centres, channels via EC’s portal (www.spr.gov.my), or calling ‪03-88927018‬, or via SMS to 15888 or through the MySPR Semak application from Aug 5, while the application for postal voting is open from today until Aug 13.

Azmi said Muallim district officer Shamsul Ridzuan Idris has been appointed as the Slim state by-election Returning Officer.

The EC also agrees to form two election campaign enforcement teams (PP-KPR) which will comprise the police, local authorities and candidates’ representatives, to monitor all campaign activities.

“We will be using the Sri Tanjung Hall of the Tanjung Malim District Council as the nomination and vote-tallying centre,” said Azmi while adding that some 689 personnel would be appointed to manage the by-election process, and 13 polling centres with 55 channels would be used for polling purpose.

“The estimated cost for this by-election is RM4.6 million,” he said.

Meanwhile, Azmi said 391 voters who are persons with disabilities would be voting in channel one, and 10 channels have been added to avoid congestion.

He added that an improved guideline to prevent COVID-19 would be enforced to ensure all electoral processes are in line with the measures to contain the coronavirus outlined by the Health Ministry.

The EC is also offering any government agency, non-governmental organisation, institution or eligible individual who is interested in becoming observers during the by-election to submit their application via email to [email protected] before July 29.