PETALING JAYA: The by-election for the Jepak state seat in Sarawak will see a three-cornered fight come Nov 4.
The three candidates are from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Aspirasi and Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK).
At the Dewan Suarah nomination centre in Bintulu, Election Commission (EC) returning officer Abang Zainuddin Abang Turkey announced the acceptance of nomination papers from GPS’s Iskandar Turkee, 54, Aspirasi’s Chieng Lea Phing, 65, and PBK’s Stevenson Joseph Sumbang, 42.
The EC had previously announced that of the 22,804 registered voters in Jepak, 22,761 are ordinary voters and 43 are police personnel. It was also reported that there will be no early voting centre opened as the 43 police personnel will be sending in postal votes.
Both peninsula-based coalitions, Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN), chose to stay out of the by-election.
The Borneo Post reported that deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof of GPS had called for the seat to be unopposed, but PBK president Voon Lee Shan said that letting GPS win the Jepak by-election unopposed could “kill democracy”.
The seat fell vacant following the death of its assemblyman, Talib Zulpilip, on Sept 15.
The six-term Jepak assemblyman from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the main component in the ruling GPS, died due to kidney complications.
Talib, a former state minister for integrity and ombudsman, won the Jepak seat in the 2021 state election with a majority of 4,243 votes. - FMT
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