Three-cornered fight in Sg Kandis by-election

SG KANDIS POLLS | Nominations have closed for the Sungai Kandis by-election, with the returning officer announcing that the state seat will be contested by Pakatan Harapan's Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni, BN's Lokman Noor Adam, and independent Murthy Krishnasamy.

Zawawi, a religious teacher, is PKR's religious understanding and consolidation bureau secretary, while Lokman sits on the Umno supreme council.

Both candidates arrived early at the Shah Alam City Council Tanjung Hall to file their nomination papers, shortly after returning officer Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad's announcement that the nomination process would be open for an hour.

The Sungai Kandis by-election will be a test for both coalitions, as it is the first since the historic May 9 general election, which saw BN lose federal power to Harapan for the first time in over 60 years.

The Malay-majority state seat was previously held by PKR incumbent Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei upon the 14th general election. It fell vacant upon Shuhaimi's death earlier this month to cancer.

It was largely expected to be a straight fight between the two coalitions, with the absence of PAS.

Although PAS had decided to sit out the by-election, it took pains to stress that its decision not to field a candidate should not be construed as it working together with Umno. 

Enter independents

As the two candidates were dining after filing their papers, a Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) member walked into the hall at around 9.30am, sat at the waiting area, and promptly walked back out a few minutes later, raising speculation an independent could enter the fray.

When met by reporters, the 42-year-old Ahmad Kamaruddin claimed that he had did have intentions of contesting, but was given "last minute advice" by the PRM president to back out and make way for a straight fight between BN and Harapan.

Ahmad also noted that he contested the Bukit Antarabangsa state seat on a PRM ticket.

Shortly thereafter, another middle-aged man walked in and filed his nomination. 

At 10am, retruning officer Zaharin announced that nominations were closed, and proceeded to announce a three-way contest for the state seat 20 minutes later.

"I am satisfied that no nomination papers have been rejected," he told reporters.

Aside from Zawawi and Lokman, Zaharin also confirmed a third candidate, the independent Murthy. As his name was announced, Murthy came forward and kneeled on stage with his hands clasped in prayer.

Murthy, however, did not stop to speak to reporters, as he left the centre immediately after the returning officer's announcement. 

Outside the nomination centre, top leaders from Harapan and BN were seen with their supporters, including PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amiruddin Shari had been among the first Harapan leaders to arrive, followed by his predecessor, PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Others from the party included Zuraida Kamaruddin, Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, Hilman Idham, Dr Afif Bahardin, and Sivarasa Rasiah.

The were joined by Amanah leaders Khalid Samad, Anuar Tahir and Izham Hashim, as well as Selangor DAP assemblypersons Ng Sze Han and Ronnie Liu.

In support of Lokman, Umno leaders seen were Annuar Musa, Ismail Sabri, Noh Omar, Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Mahdzir Khalid, Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz and Wan Azeri Wan Deris, popularly known as Papagomo.

In GE14, Shuhaimi obtained 23,998 votes to win the state seat, defeating BN's Kamaruzzaman Johar (11,518), PAS' Mohd Yusof Abdullah (7,573) and PRM's Hanafiah Husin (76).

Polling will take place on Aug 4. -Mkini