By-election for Chempaka state seat on March 22 - EC Chairman

The Election Commission (EC) has set March 22 for polling day in the by-election for the Chempaka state constituency in Kelantan.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said nomination day had been set for March 10 while early polling would be on March 18.

"Closing day for application for postal voting in the country is March 12, while application for postal voting for electors abroad will close on March 10," he said at a media conference on the by-election for the N06 Chempaka State Constituency, here today.

The by-election is being held following the death of the incumbent, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who was also the former menteri besar of Kelantan, on Feb 5 due to prostate cancer.

In the 13th general election (GE13), Nik Abdul Aziz (PAS) defeated the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, Wan Razman Wan Abd Razak, with a majority of 6,500 votes.

Nik Abdul Aziz obtained 12,310 votes while Wan Razman had 5,810.

The by-election for the Chempaka state seat is the eighth by-election after the GE13 held on May 5, 2013.

The seven by-elections previously were the Kuala Besut state seat, Terengganu (July 24, 2013); Sungai Limau state seat, Kedah (Nov 4, 2013); Kajang state seat, Selangor (March 23, 2014); Balingian state seat, Sarawak (March 29, 2014); Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat, Penang (May 25, 2014); Teluk Intan

parliamentary seat, Perak (May 31, 2104) and Pengkalan Kubor state seat, Kelantan (Sept 25, 2014).

Abdul Aziz said the revised electoral roll as at Feb 12 this year would be used for the by-election.

He said the electoral roll contained 21,890 registered voters comprising 20,390 ordinary voters, 1,497 early voters and three absentee voters who are abroad.

"The electoral roll will be on sale beginning March 8. Voters can also check the electoral roll to find out information on the polling centres and polling stream via the EC website or using the short messaging service (SMS)," he said.

He said that the nomination process and official vote tallying would be held at the Dewan Bitara Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Pengkalan Chepa, Kota Baharu.

Abdul Aziz said 10 polling centres involving nine schools with 42 polling streams would be used, while early voting would be held at the Dewan Tan Sri Hamid Bidin, Pengkalan Chepa Camp, Kota Baharu.

He said the condition of all the schools which would be used as polling centres for the Chempaka by-election was satisfactory and did not require any repairs as they were not affected by the recent floods.

A total of 403 election workers would be appointed to carry out the election process with an estimated budget of RM810,000, he said.

"The EC also agreed to set up two election campaign enforcement teams which will be headed by an enforcement officer for each team," he said.

The deputy district officer for the Kota Baharu Land and District Office, Ibrahim Mat Deris was appointed as the returning officer for the by-election for the Chempaka state constituency and he would be assisted by two assistant returning officers.

Abdul Aziz said that for the by-election for the Chempaka state seat, the EC would consider the appointment of local observers if there were any request for observation throughout the by-election process beginning from the nomination day until the announcement of the polling results.

He said the observers would be appointed from among the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and they would be allowed to make observations at the nomination centre, early polling centre, polling centres and the official vote tallying centre.