PUTRAJAYA: A by-election will be held on Dec 2 for the Kemaman parliamentary seat in Terengganu, following the recent ruling by an election court overturning Perikatan Nasional’s win in the constituency in last year’s general election (GE15) over bribery claims.
Nomination day is set for Nov 18 with early voting to take place on Nov 28, Election Commission chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh announced today.
The seat had been won by PAS’s Che Alias Hamid with a majority of 27,170 votes over his nearest rival, former menteri besar Ahmad Said of Umno, who contested on a Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket.
However, on Sept 26, the result was overturned and the seat vacated when the election court in Kuala Terengganu held that the distribution of i-Belia and i-Siswa government aid to voters during the campaign period constituted election bribery.
The money had been distributed at events organised by the PAS-controlled Terengganu state government.
PAS decided not to file an appeal against the ruling by the election court.
The campaign period will run from Nov 18 to Dec 1.
There are 141,790 eligible voters, including 408 in the early voting category.
“The by-election for Kemaman, Terengganu requires a budget of RM3.5 million,” Ghani told the press at the EC headquarters.
Rumours had previously circulated about PN fielding former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Kemaman, but that was quickly dismissed by Terengganu menteri besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar who said PN could retain Che Alias as its candidate for the seat.
Meanwhile, on Sept 26, Terengganu BN chief Ahmad Said said the coalition was ready to contest the Kemaman parliamentary seat despite the wipeout in the Terengganu state elections in August. - FMT
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