Three-cornered contest in Sungai Besar by-election

The Sungai Besar parliamentary by-election is a three-cornered contest among Barisan Nasional, PAS and Parti Amanah Negara.

The candidates are Budiman Mohd Zohdi of BN, Dr Abdul Rani Osman of PAS and Azhar Abdul Shukur of Amanah.

Returning officer Mohd Khairuddin Md Som announced the names of the candidates at 10.28am after the one-hour nomination closed at 10am.

He said he was satisfied with the nomination papers filed by the candidates, and the supporters of the candidates erupted into applause.

Budiman is the state assemblyman for Sungai Panjang and Dr Abdul Rani is the state assemblyman for Meru.

The by-election has been necessitated by the death of the MP, Tan Sri Noriah Kasnon, in a helicopter crash in Sarawak on May 5.

In the 13th general election, in 2013, Noriah defeated the PAS candidate, Mohamed Salleh M. Hussin, with a majority of 399 votes.

Sungai Besar has 42,655 registered voters, comprising 42,365 ordinary voters, 286 early voters and four absentee voters who are abroad.

The Election Commission has fixed June 18 as the polling day for the by-election. Early voting is on June 14.