PERMATANG PAUH, April 25 — From the break of dawn, it was clear it was not going to be a regular morning in the sleepy town of Permatang Pauh.

With flags of blue and red lining up the streets leading up to the nomination centre at the Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara, food vendors set up shop as early as 7am in anticipation of the business to be had.

And they were right to trust their intuition - what started out as a crowd of hundreds of supporters from Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional quickly grew to several thousand, as they waited for the eventual announcement of candidates for the parliamentary by-election.

The first candidate to arrive was BN’s Suhaimi Sabudin, flanked by Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan, Wanita chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and other BN leaders.

PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail - the incumbent party’s candidate for the contest - arrived a little later with her daughters, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, Nurul Nuha and Nurul Iman.

They were also accompanied by PR leaders Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng from DAP, PKR deputy President and Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali and PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustapha Ali.

They were later followed by independent candidate Salleh Isahak and Parti Rakyat Malaysia candidate Azman Shah Othman, who round off a four-way tussle for the Permatang Pauh seat.

Not left out was the heckling between BN and PR supporters, whose leaders took turns trying to rouse their respective crowds and drown out the competition.

Amid the standard “Reformasi” chant, PR supporters held up placards reading “Reject GST, Vote PKR” and flags of the opposition coalition’s three partners - PKR, DAP and PAS.

The BN crowd, meanwhile, held up placards claiming that “Permatang Pauh wants BN” and “This time Permatang Pauh chooses BN” in a sea of blue BN flags, while accompanied by kompang troupes.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had initially won the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat back in 1982 under the Barisan Nasional’s ticket before he was sacked in 1998 and his wife, Dr Wan Azizah, had then formed and led PKR to capture the seat in the 1999 general election.

Anwar reclaimed the seat in 2008 in a by-election after Dr Wan Azizah stepped down, but it was declared vacant again earlier this year after the PKR de-facto chief was sentenced to five years’ jail for sodomising a former aide.

A total 71,890 registered voters in Permatang Pauh will cast their vote for their new MP on May 7, while early polls is on May 3.