Nomination papers snapped up – EC

KOTA KINABALU- In less than 24 hours after the dissolution of Parliament, nomination papers for the 13th general election (GE13) have already been snapped by interested individuals.

Disclosing this yesterday, Sabah Election Commission director Datuk Md Idrus Ismail said, however, he was unsure who the individuals were.

“There have been a number of individuals who came to get the nomination papers. As for parties, normally they would come and take in bulk so they will put in a request for us to prepare, before they can come and pick it up,” he told The Borneo Post, yesterday.

He said the nomination papers were sold at RM20 each.

“But this time, the candidates are only required to get one copy as there will be no more protest during the nomination day. So once the nomination papers are submitted to the Returning Officer, the name or names of candidate/candidates will be announced. In the past, they have to fill in three copies, costing them RM60,” he said.

Md Idrus said the Sabah EC was “100 per cent prepared” for the GE13, adding that everything was in place and, as he put it:”Just waiting for the ‘big day’ to come.”

“Like anybody else, we are also waiting for the nomination and polling dates. We cannot make any decision until all have dissolved their state assemblies.

“I will be submitting the dissolution of the Sabah state assembly today,” he said, adding that EC was expected to call for a meeting by next week.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman announced the dissolution at his official residence, Sri Gaya, in the presence of cabinet ministers and incumbent assemblymen on Wednesday, four hours after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak made the most-awaited announcement.

Md Idrus said a total of 17,610 election workers would be deployed in 723 polling centres throughout Sabah and Labuan.

A total of 26 nomination centres will be set up, which will also be the official ballot counting centres.

Boxes of materials for the election workers arrived much earlier after speculations of possible polling were heard since last year, and were in the process of distribution to each polling station statewide and Labuan.

There are a total of 982,644 registered voters in Sabah and Labuan (24,497) based on the fourth quarter of the electoral roll which was put on gazette on Feb 22 this year.

-theborneopost.com