SEREMBAN, March 29 — The Election Commission (EC) has sold eight sets of nomination forms for the Rantau state by-election, the nomination for which is tomorrow.
EC deputy chairman Dr Azmi Sharom said today the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) bought one set each and six individuals bought the other six sets.
He spoke to reporters after a check on the preparations for the nomination at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) Bandar Sri Sendayan here.
Azmi said the preparations had gone smoothly and added that everything will be alright so long as everyone complied with the rules and regulations.
Polling day is on April 13 and early voting on April 9.
Asked about the expected voter turnout, Azmi said the EC estimated that it will be 70 per cent.
The by-election has been necessitated by the Federal Court dismissal of an appeal filed by Mohamad to set aside the Nov 16 Seremban Election Court decision declaring his unopposed victory in the 14th general election (GE14) null and void.
In GE14, Mohamad was declared the winner of the seat for Barisan Nasional (BN) after Dr Streram, an anaesthetist, the potential Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate, was prohibited from entering the nomination centre to submit his nomination papers because he did not have a pass issued by the EC.
The Rantau constituency has 29,926 registered electors, comprising 20,804 ordinary voters, 118 early voters and four absentee voters.
The Rantau by-election is the seventh since GE14. By-elections have been held for the Sungai Kandis state seat (Aug 4 last year); Balakong and Seri Setia state seats (Sept 8 last year); Port Dickson parliamentary seat (Oct 13 last year); Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat (Jan 26) and Semenyih state seat (March 2). — Bernama
