GEORGE TOWN, May 12 — With MCA out of the picture, the tussle for Bukit Gelugor is now a four-cornered fight between the DAP and three others — Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) and two independents.
The two parties and independent candidates submitted their nomination forms at Dewan Sri Pinang here between 9am and 10am without any untoward incidences.
Ramkarpal Singh Deo, 38, the son of the seat’s former MP Karpal Singh, will contest for the DAP while Huan Cheng Guan is PCM’s pick for the fight..
The independent candidates are Mohd Nabi Bux Mohd Abd Sathar, 63, and Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zan, 46.
A fifth candidate hopeful — 52-year-old marketing executive Lim Chee Khoon — also submitted his nomination form but had his bid rejected when he could not produce his deposit on time.
From as early as 7am, at least 200 Pakatan Rakyat (PR) supporters were gathered nearby at the Esplanade while PCM supporters gathered in front of the Penang Chinese Town Hall a few hundred meters away.
PR supporters marched to the centre at around 9am along to drumbeats and shouts of “hidup rakyat”, “reformasi” and “BN penakut”.
PCM members, led by it’s vice president Huan, marched quietly to the Dewan Sri Pinang at about 8.30am and entered the nomination centre when it opened at 9am.
Mohd Nabi arrived with a handful of supporters holding up banners in support of hudud. They entered the nomination centre shortly after Huan.
Lawyer Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zan, 46, arrived with his proposer and seconder at about 9.40am to submit his nomination form.
Election Commission (EC) returning officer Anwar Yahya announced the names of the candidates contesting for May 25 by-election, confirming the four-corner fight at about 10.30am.
The Bukit Gelugor seat was vacated after the late MP Karpal Singh was killed in a car crash last month.
MCA, which had traditionally held the seat before Karpal won it in 2004, had decided to drop out from the contest, saying it wants to concentrate on its campaign against PAS’s bid to introduce hudud in Kelantan..
Karpal had held the seat under DAP since 2004, winning huge majorities of 21,015 votes in 2008 and 42,706 votes in 2013 against MCA.
Analysts have predicted that DAP will likely retain the seat.
After submitting their nomination form, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng told the press that any party is free to contest or in MCA’s case not to contest.
However, he criticised Barisan Nasional (BN) for deciding to pull out of the race but later saying it will back an independent candidate.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said since MCA, a BN component party, has decided not to contest in the by-election, the pact will lend its support to a “proxy” candidate instead.
“This shows their strategy of that by being neither here nor there, they can be everywhere but I want to tell them they will get nowhere with this tactic,” Lim said.
