Kemaman by-election begins with nomination on Nov 18

CHUKAI: The Kemaman parliamentary by-election is set to begin on Saturday (Nov 18) with the nomination process taking place at the Dewan Berlian Kemaman Municipal Council here.

Each candidate contesting for the seat will have one hour from 9am to 10am to submit their nomination forms before the names of the eligible candidates are announced by the returning officer.

Once the nomination process is finalised, candidates will have 14 days to campaign for votes in Kemaman’s four state constituencies – Kemasik, Kijal, Air Putih and Cukai.

The Election Commission (EC) has set polling for the by-election on Dec 2, with the nomination this Saturday and early voting on Nov 28, after the Terengganu Election Court nullified the victory of Che Alias Hamid of PAS, who was declared the winner of the Kemaman parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election (GE15) last year.

A total of 141,790 electors, including 387 police personnel, nine armed forces personnel, and their spouses, as well as 12 absentee voters are expected to fullfil their duty in the by-election.

In GE15 held in November 2022, Che Alias won the Kemaman parliamentary seat with a majority of 27,179 votes after obtaining 65,714 votes to defeat Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Seri Ahmad Said (38,535 votes), Pakatan Harapan’s Hasuni Sudin (8,340 votes), and Pejuang’s Rosli Ab Ghani (506 votes).

Both the Barisan and PAS candidates have announced that they will not be contesting this by-election but in a surprise move, Barisan announced former chief of defence forces general (Rtd) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor as its direct candidate last Monday.

Meanwhile, Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar has been named as the PAS candidate to defend the Kemaman parliamentary seat in the upcoming by-election. – BK