PUTRAJAYA, July 9 — The Election Commission (EC) today announced that the Sungai Kandis by-election will be held on August 4 this year.

EC deputy chairman Tan Sri Othman Mahmood said after the special meeting that the nomination day will be on July 21.

"The campaign period is 14 days starting from nomination day until 11.59 pm of August 3.

For postal voting, the application is open from July 9 and close on July 21,” he told reporters at a press conference at EC headquarter here, today.

Othman said EC has agreed to appoint Shah Alam mayor Datuk Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad as the election manager with help from three assistant election managers.

EC will use the venue at Dewan Besar Tanjung Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam, Section 19 Shah Alam as the nomination centre and official polling centre.

"We have made some improvements by creating two channels for voters aged 60 years and above, and adding another 21 new channels in polling centres with a large number of voters, totalled 109 channels compared to 88 channels in GE14,” he added.

The commission will also extend 30 minutes of polling period from 8.00am until 5.30pm compared to 5.00pm previously.

"With these improvements, we hope they can reduce crowded voters at the polling stations so that they can fulfill their duty with ease,” Othman said.

Some 51,230 registered voters will be eligible to vote; with 51,217 ordinary voters and another 13 voters absent voters living abroad.

During this by-election, EC said that any non-government organisations (NGOs) or agencies who are interested to observe the by-election process may apply to do so. The application closes on July 16.

The Sungai Kandis by-election was called following the death of incumbent, Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei who died due to lymphoma cancer on July 2.

In the GE14, Mat Shuhaimi, representing PKR, defended the Sungai Kandis (formerly Sri Muda) seat for the third consecutive term with a majority of 12,480 votes in a four-cornered contest against BN, PAS and Parti Rakyat Malaysia candidates.