KUCHING, March 5 — Sarawak PKR today urged the Election Commission (EC) to set the dates for the Balingian poll only after the Kajang by-election has been concluded, citing convenience for all involved.

According to the chairman of the state PKR chapter, Baru Bian, the EC would cause a rush if it decides for Balingian to follow the March 11 nomination and March 23 polling dates already determined for Kajang.

The EC is scheduled to meet on March 6 to determine the dates for the Balingian by-election.

“I think maybe the nomination day (Balingian) would be on March 23 immediately after Kajang, and polling 10 days after. This is for the convenience of everybody,” said Baru.

When asked on PKR’s candidate, he said he and other party leaders were meeting the potential candidates but have yet to finalise their decision.

PBB supreme council member Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the EC should allow time and space for both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to make preparations and campaign.

“There must be some fair play and leaders of both BN and PR must be given space to campaign,” he said.

Political analyst from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Dr Jeniri Amir said for the PBB side, the candidate might be a Christian Melanau if the top party leaders were to go with the “gentlemen’s agreement” made in the 70s during Sarawak’s third chief minister, Tun Rahman Yakub’s time, when there would be a balance between the different ethnic groups in the top state government’s posts.

“It (gentlemen’s agreement) is not an issue and not really a concern. However I think it is good to stick to the agreement. Parliamentary seat Mukah has Datuk Seri Dr Muhammad Leo Michael Toyad Abdullah as its MP and Dalat assemblyman is Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.

“Both are Muslims,” he said.

Jeniri said he was confident that PBB would be able to defend the Balingian seat as its support there has increased over the past elections.

During the previous state election in 2011, Tan Sri Taib Mahmud managed to garner 80 per cent of the popular vote.

Jeniri predicted that PBB will likely secure about 86 per cent of the popular votes in the coming poll.

“The rest would depend on the candidate. Typically, rural voters would want their expected representative to go down to the ground often.

“Issues in Balingian are mostly localised such as infrastructure development and basic needs,” he said.

Balingian PBB Youth chief Raymund Joseph Tani in a press statement declared that his members would support whoever was chosen to become candidate.

“We leave it to our chief minister and party president Tan Sri Adenan Satem to chose the candidate. We will ensure the PBB will defend Balingian state seat,” he said.

Taib vacated the Balingian seat on February 28, when he also retired as chief minister. He was appointed Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak the following day.