Port Dickson polls on Oct 13, nomination Sept 29

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 20 — The next by-election for the Port Dickson parliamentary seat will be held on October 13, the Election Commission (EC) announced today.

Nomination Day is set for September 29.

“The campaign period is 14 days from nomination day until 11.59pm on 12 October 2018,” EC deputy chairman Tan Sri Othman Mahmood told a press conference at the commission’s headquarters here.

“For postal voting, the application period is from today and closes on 29 September 2018.”

Also present at the news conference were EC secretary Datuk Mohamed Elias Abu Bakar, and EC member Datuk Mohd Yusop Mansor.

Othman said Khairy Maamor has been appointed the election manager and will be aided by nine assistant managers.

The Port Dickson Municipal Council Hall will be used as the nomination and official polling centre.

“In this by-election, 1,403 officers have been appointed to manage the election process, with 39 voting centres and a total of 171 channels will be used.

“The estimated allocation needed is RM3.6 million. The cost is more than the last by-elections as this is a parliamentary seat and there are five state seats under it. The constituency is vast.

“This is only the ceiling estimation, it could be less than that,” he said.

Othman said in encouraging more voters to come out to vote, which he said the EC targeted 70 per cent turnout, a campaign “Jom Kita Undi” (Let’s Vote) will be launched through various media platform and banners will be placed at strategic public areas.

He said some improvement were made, such as setting up two channels for voters aged 60 years and above, and added 26 new channels in polling centres with large numbers of voters, totalling 171 channels compared with 145 in GE14.

Polling time will also be extended from 8am to 5.30pm instead of 5pm previously.

“EC will also provide transportation services for disabled persons to several polling stations,” he said.

There are 75,770 eligible voters in the constituency — 68,486 ordinary voters, 7,268 early voters, and 16 absent voters living abroad.

Othman said non-government organisations or agencies that wished to observe the by-election should apply by September 25.

The by-election was called following the resignation of former incumbent Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah on September 12, to give way to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to contest the seat and return to Parliament.

The by-election, triggered by retired admiral Danyal's exit, will be the fourth held since GE14, following Sungai Kandis and the recently concluded Balakong and Seri Setia polls on September 8.

In the recent 14th general polls, the former Naval officer, representing PKR, defended the seat with 36,225 votes in a three-cornered fight against Barisan Nasional’s Mogan Velayatham and PAS’ Mahfuz Roslan.