PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission (EC) has fixed March 2 as polling day for the Semenyih by-election.
Candidate nominations will be made on Feb 16, while early voting is set for Feb 26, said EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun.
The campaign period will run for 14 days, from the start of the nomination day until 11.59pm on March 1.
“An allocation of RM1.8 million is needed to conduct the Semenyih by-election,” Azhar told reporters after chairing a special meeting on the by-election here, today.
He said electoral rolls from the third quarter of 2018 will be used for the polls and that they will be sold starting Feb 12.
The Semenyih constituency has 54,503 registered voters, comprising 53,520 ordinary voters, 951 early voters and 32 absentee voters, he said.
“The EC targets a voter turnout of 70 per cent for the by-election,” he added.
Azhar said Kajang Municipal Council president Datuk Mohd Sayuthi Bakar will be the returning officer for the by-election; and that Kajang Municipal Council’s Seri Cempaka Hall will be the nomination and vote-tallying centre.
He added that 26 polling stations with 119 polling streams will be made available on polling day.
Azhar said there are 741 registered disabled voters in the Semenyih constituency and that they will cast their votes via Stream 1.
There will also be two specific streams for voters aged 60 and above at each centre, and voting hours will be extended from 8am to 5.30pm, as compared to 5pm previously.
“We have also added one new voting centre and 31 new streams for the by-election,” Azhar added.
A total of 992 workers have been appointed to carry out the by-election, he said.
Semenyih assemblyman Bakhtiar Mohd Nor of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia died of a heart attack on Jan 11. He was 57.
In the 14th general election (GE14), Bakhtiar secured 23,428 votes to beat candidates from Barisan Nasional, Pas and Parti Sosialis Malaysia with a majority of 8,964 votes.
The Semenyih by-election is the sixth by-election to be held after the GE14.
Another by-election on the horizon is for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat on Jan 26.
The other four by-elections were held last year for the Sungai Kandis state seat (Aug 4); the Balakong and Seri Setia state seats (Sept 8); and the Port Dickson parliamentary seat (Oct 13).