PUTRAJAYA, March 6 ― The Election Commission (EC) has fixed April 13 as voting day for the Rantau by-election.
Early voting will be on April 9 and nomination day will be on March 30.
“After the court order that decides the Rantau elections were void we have 60 days to have an election and we decided to have them on these dates,” said EC chairman Azhar Harun.
“We urge all parties to fill in their application forms and pay the fees as early as possible so we can do early checking.”
Azhar said they are also adding 11 streams to the 16 polling stations, for a total of 55 streams.
Two new streams will be for seniors while others were to expedite general voting.
The EC chief said the commission was aiming for a 70 per cent turnout from the seat’s 20,926 registered voters, of whom 118 were early voters and four were absentee voters.
Commenting on the concluded Semenyih by-election, Azhar said the EC was still collecting information on alleged electoral offences then.
“As for the ‘barung’ and ‘pondok panas’, we've asked the local authorities and police to take them down if they see any laws broken.”
The Rantau by-election was triggered after the Special Election Court annulled acting Umno president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan’s uncontested victory from the 14th general election.
The court concluded that his would-be rival, PKR’s Dr S. Streram, was unlawfully barred from submitting his nomination papers.
