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Saturday, October 9, 2010

Pakatan faces 2 tough by-elections before year-end


Malaysia Chronicle

Two tough by-elections await the Pakatan Rakyat before the end of this year – one in Galas, Kelantan and the other in Batu Sapi, Sabah.

Both seats are located in deep BN territory and it won’t be easy for the Pakatan to pry a victory from Prime Minister Najib Razak, whom pundits predict may soon call for national elections.

They expect him to roll out the full barrage of election goodies in order to ensure that his BN coalition enters the 13th General Election with a psychological edge.

In Sabah, the untimely death of Batu Sapi MP Edmund Chong has triggered Malaysia's 13th by-election since March 2008, while the late PAS assemblyman for Galas, Chek Hashim Sulaima, who died of colon cancer, had prompted the 12th.

Galas will be balloted on November 4, while Batu Sapit will have to be held within the next two months. Due to the customary year-end bad weather where flooding and monsoon rains are common, the Election Commission may also declare a November by-election date for Batu Sapi.

“We are of course saddened by such an untimely death and we extend to his family our deepest condolences,” PKR communications director Ronnie Klassen told Malaysia Chronicle.

Edmund
“But there has to be a by-election now, and as far Pakatan is concerned, we will certainly go all out. Mostly likely a PKR candidate will be fielded although DAP is also familiar with the area. Batu Sapi is a mixed semi-urban constituency with a mostly Muslim majority population. So far, it has been a BN enclave."

Two by-elections before year-end

The 54-year Chong had retained his seat with a 3,708 majority, polling 9,479 votes against independent Chung Kwing Wing’s 5,771. According to the 2008 electoral list, there were 26,004 voters. Turnout was 15,980 while spoilt votes 730.

Chong had first won Batu Sapi in 2004 uncontested when his opponent withdrew at the eleventh hour.

Hashim Sulaima
There are two state seats under the Batu Sapi (P185) parliamentary umbrella – Sekong (N43) held by BN’s Samsudin Yahya and Karamunting (N44) held by BN’s Peter Pang.

In Galas, PAS had won the seat by a wafer-slim 646-vote majority in 2008. The constituency is part of the Gua Musang parliamentary seat held by Umno’s Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah since 1969.

Tengku Razaleigh has agreed to be the Umno election director for Galas although he has not accepted the offer to become the by-election candidate. He plans to meet Najib next week before making any decision.

Lik Batu Sapi, Galas is also a mixed seat although the Muslim population dominates. According to the 2008 list, there are 10,330 voters in the constituency, with 65.4% Malays, 22.3% Chinese, 10.5% Orang Asli and 1.8% Indians.

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