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THE Rantau by-election will take place on April 13 while nomination day is March 30, the Election Commission said today.

EC chairman Azhar Harun said early voting for the Negri Sembilan state seat is on April 9.

he by-election for the Rantau state seat is being held after the Federal Court dismissed the appeal by Umno acting president Mohamad Hasan to reject the decision by the Seremban election court on November 16 last year which declared his (Mohamad) victory at the Rantau seat as null and void.

Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr S. Streram, who was denied entry to submit his nomination form because of the absence of a tag or pass, took the case to the election court.

He sought a by-election to be held for the seat on grounds that Mohamad’s election was invalid.

The by-election will be the seventh since last year’s May 9 general election.

The electoral roll used for the elections will be from 2018, which has been updated until February 26 and available for sale on March 14, he said.

The constituency has 20,926 voters – 20,804 ordinary, early (118) and absentee (4).

The EC is targeting 70% voter turnout for the Rantau by-election.

Seremban district officer Mohd  Nizam Tajul Arus will be the returning officer while 515 workers will assist.

The multipurpose hall in SJK (Cina) Bandar Sri Sendayan will be used as the nomination centre and the official vote-tallying centre, he added.

The EC has also made some changes to expedite the voting process.

There will be two priority voting streams for voters aged above 60 years at every voting station.

Voting time has also been extended beginning from 8am to 5.30pm as opposed to the old system of 8am to 5pm.

It will add 11 voting streams, bringing the total to 55 as opposed to 44 in GE14.

He said the by-election is expected to cost RM1.8 million.

As implemented for the Cameron Highlands and Semenyih by-elections, Azhar said the EC would provide a live crossover on the nomination, early voting, polling, vote-counting and announcement on the results on its Facebook page.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT