IPOH, Nov 19 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) deputy chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu expressed his condolences to the family of Md Yunus Ramli, the coalition’s Tioman state seat candidate, who died early this morning.

"We pray that his soul will rest in peace,” he told reporters after casting his vote at the polling station in Sekolah Agama Rendah Al-Ithidayah in Tambun here.

Ahmad Faizal also thought polling would continue for the Pahang state seat after the PAS man’s death and hopes the Election Commission (EC) will make a good decision on the next course of action.

"I honestly thought the candidate representative will take his place for the seat. But I don’t know what the EC is going to do about it.

"The voting process has been done, and I think it will be unfair for other candidates too. I’m not really sure of this, but based on my understanding I think the regulation is if a candidate died or even died after winning, the candidate representative can take oath for the replacement,” he said.

The EC suspended voting for the Tioman seat just before polling stations opened at 8am.

Md Yunus died at 3.30am this morning at Rompin Hospital, Pahang.

His death was confirmed by Central PAS Committee member Wan Rohimi Wan Daud to Bernama.

Md Yunus, 61, from PAS, had previously contested in the same seat in GE14 and served as Sungai Puteri PAS branch chief.

In GE15, the Tioman state seat witnessed a five-cornered clash between Yunus, Sulaiman Bakar (Independent), Osman A. Bakar (Pejuang), Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly (Pakatan Harapan), and Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussain (Barisan Nasional).