BENTONG, Oct 6 — The campaign period for the Pelangai state by-election entered its last day today, and tomorrow voters will head to the polls and vote for their new assemblyman.
The remaining hours of the campaign, which concludes at 11.59 pm tonight, will undoubtedly be fully utilised by the competing parties to make one final push in an effort to gain voters’ support.
The Pelangai by-election will see a three-cornered clash between Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Amizar Abu Adam, Kasim Samat of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and independent candidate Haslihelmy DM Zulhasni.
The by-election is being called for following the death of its incumbent Datuk Seri Johari Harun in a plane crash in Bandar Elmina, Shah Alam, Selangor, on Aug 17.
A total of nine polling centres involving 30 streams will be open from 8 am to 6 pm tomorrow, and the counting of votes will take place at the official vote tallying centre at Dewan Orang Ramai Felda Kemasul here.
According to the Election Commission (EC), of the total registered 16,456 voters in Pelangai, 36 were police officers, while the other three were overseas absentee voters.
However, no early voting centres were open for the Pelangai state by-election, despite the fact that early voting was set for Oct 3 after the EC issued 73 ballot papers to those eligible for postal voting.
Of the three contesting candidates, only Kasim will vote tomorrow at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Felda Chemomoi, since Amizar and Haslihelmy are both registered voters in the Ketari state seat, which is also in the Bentong parliamentary constituency.
A check on the Malaysian Meteorological Department website found that fine weather is forecast in Pelangai in the morning, while thunderstorms are predicted in one or two places in the evening.
BN and PN made the most of the time given to reach out to as many voters as possible through door-to-door campaigns, events, and ceramah, and increased their efforts in the second week.
Both parties feature their respective top leaders to woo voters. Apart from its chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, BN received a groundswell of support from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and former Pahang Menteri Besar Tan Sri Adnan Yaakob who served as the Pelangai assemblyman for 36 years beginning 1986.
PN employed a similar strategy with its chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad going to the ground to help campaign for the alliance.
As for Haslihelmy, who is using the car symbol in the by-election, he adopted the ‘quiet’ campaign approach, assisted by family members, relatives and close friends, without any banners or posters being put up around Pelangai.
In the 15th General Election, Johari from BN, won with a majority of 4,048 votes, defeating Kasim (PN), Ahmed Wafiuddin of Pakatan Harapan and Pejuang candidate Isa Ahmad.
