PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission has set May 7 as the polling day for Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election.
Its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said nomination would be on April 25 and early voting on May 3.
“The 2013 voters’ list will be used for the by-election combined with the additional third quarter of 2014 voters’ list and updated until April 1, 2015,” he told a press conference in Putrajaya, Wednesday.
The voters’ list comprised 71,890 registered voters, which was made up of 71,252 normal voters, 627 early voters and 11 postal voters.
The Permatang Pauh seat was declared vacant after its incumbent, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was disqualified as a Member of Parliament since March 16 after the Pardons Board rejected a petition for a royal pardon sought by the Opposition Leader’s family over his conviction for sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
Anwar is currently serving a five-year jail sentence at the Sungai Buloh Prison.
In the 2013 general election, Anwar retained the Permatang Pauh seat by defeating BN’s Dr Mazlan Ismail by a 11,721-vote majority.
Anwar, 68, of Cherok Tok Kun, Bukit Mertajam, Penang first contested the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in the 1982 general election.
Representing BN, Anwar easily beat Zabidi Ali of PAS with a 14,352 majority vote.
He retained the seat in the subsequent general elections until he was jailed for six years on April 14, 1999 for corruption and was disqualified.
Anwar, who was freed on Sept 2, 2004, was not allowed to be involved in politics for five years starting from the date of the release.
The Permatang Pauh seat was then contested and won by his wife, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail until her resignation on July 31, 2008 to make way for Anwar to contest the seat in a by-election in August 2008.
Anwar won the seat by beating Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah (BN) with a majority of 15,671 votes.
The Permatang Pauh by-election is the ninth by-election after the 13th general election held on May 5, 2013.
The by-elections were Kuala Besut, Terengganu state seat (July 24, 2013); Sungai Limau, Kedah state seat (Nov 4, 2013); Kajang, Selangor state seat (March 23, 2014); Balingian, Sarawak state seat (March 29, 2014); Bukit Gelugor, Penang parliamentary seat (May 25, 2014); Teluk Intan, Perak parliamentary seat (May 31, 2014); Pengkalan Kubor, Kelantan state seat (Sept 25, 2014) and Chempaka, Kelantan state seat (March 22, 2015).
Abdul Aziz said the EC has appointed the Seberang Perai Tengah district and land officer as the returning officer, who would be assisted by six assistant returning officers.
“The EC has agreed to set up six election campaign enforcement teams which will be headed by an enforcement officer for each team,” he said.
He said that the nomination process and official vote tallying would be held at the Bukit Mertajam National Youth Skills Institute (IKBN) Hall. – BERNAMA