SANDAKAN BY-ELECTION ON MAY 11
EC sets April 27 as nomination day
VOTERS in the Sandakan constituency will cast their votes on May 11 to elect a new representative for the parliamentary seat in Sabah.
Election Commission (EC) chairman Azhar Azizan Harun said the nomination day will be on April 27, adding that the contesting parties would have 14 days to campaign.
“For this by-election, the commission will form four enforcement teams comprising the police, local council, candidates’ representatives and EC officers.
“Early voters will cast their votes on May 7. Application for postal votes will open from today
(yesterday) to April 25,” he said after chairing a special meeting to decide on the key dates for the Sandakan by-election.
Sandakan Municipal Council deputy president Mohd Hamsan Awang Supain was appointed as the returning officer. He will be assisted by five officers for the by-election.
Azhar said the EC would use Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan Tiong Hua Sandakan’s activity hall as the nomination and official vote-tallying centre.
He said based on last year’s voters’ registry, there were 39,856 ordinary voters, 270 early voters and five absent voters.
“The voters’ registry will be available from April 22.
“EC would distribute voter ’s card to eligible Sandakan voters. The card contains information such as the voting centre, voting channel, date and time of voting.”
EC estimates the cost to run the Sandakan by-election at RM3.1 million. The Sandakan byelection will be the eighth byelection held since the Pakatan Harapan government won the general election (GE14) in May last year.
Azhar said 770 people had been appointed to manage the Sandakan by-election process.
“There will be 92 voting streams at 21 poling centres for the by-election, an increase of 17 new streams compared with 75 channels in GE14.”
Azhar said the EC expected a voter turnout of 70 per cent.
The Sandakan seat fell vacant after its member of parliament Datuk Stephen Wong, 64, died of a heart attack on March 28.
Wong, who was the Sabah health and people’s wellbeing minister, had been Sandakan member of parliament for two terms.
Meanwhile, responding to an allegation that children were used in the campaigning for the by-election in Rantau, Azhar said he had not received any report on the matter.
“Even if this has happened, I’m not sure if this an offence under the Child Protection Act. I need to check with the authorities.”
Pakatan Harapan’s PKR candidate, Dr S. Streram, was alleged to have gathered a group of children during a campaign event in Taman Orkid, Rantau, recently.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had posted on Facebook, questioning ethics of the PH candidate, saying that it was against the law to use children in an election campaign.
Pictures of children standing on the stage showing off a box of colour pencils during a campaign programme in Rantau a couple of nights ago went viral.