Karmine banking on ‘local face’ to win over voters

Karmaine Sardini, the Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Tanjung Piai by-election, is banking on his “local face” to win over voters.

He believes that he would have no problem wooing not just the Malay voters but also the Chinese and Indians.

Karmaine, 66, also thanked his party for having the confidence in fielding him as the candidate.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said they would be focusing on major issues including ways to address the cost of living, job opportunities, healthcare and education.

Muhyiddin, who is Home Minister, said that an express lane would be set up to allow for faster immigration clearance for Malaysians returning to vote in the by-election.

The express lane would be opened between midnight and 5pm on Nov 16.

“This will allow for faster clearance for those working in Singapore,” he told reporters yesterday.

He hoped voters especially those outside the state would return to cast their votes.

In GE14, voter turnout was 85.7% for the constituency.

Johor Bersatu chief Mazlan Bujang predicted that more than half of the candidates contesting in this by-election could lose their deposits.

This was based on what happened during GE14 in his own constituency of Puteri Wangsa, he said.

“It was a five-cornered fight at that time.

“The Puteri Wangsa state seat was the most crowded one among all the 56 seats in Johor in GE14,” he said, adding that three of them lost their deposits.

The deposit for a parliamentary seat is RM10,000 with another RM5,000 as a refundable deposit to remove campaign materials after the polls end.

Candidates who fail to obtain one-eighth of the total votes cast would have the RM10,000 forfeited.

As for the six-cornered Tanjung Piai by-election, he said that Pakatan was unperturbed about the big number of candidates.

“We have our core supporters,” he added.