Batu Sapi by-election set for Dec 5
Polling for the Batu Sapi parliamentary constituency by-election will be held on Dec 5, announced Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Ghani Salleh today.
This is despite calls for the by-election to be postponed in view of ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Polling for the Batu Sapi parliamentary constituency by-election will be held on Dec 5, said the Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Ghani Salleh today.
The EC decided to hold the polling day on the very last day of the 60-day time frame which is stipulated in the Federal Constitution. This was done following calls for the by-election to be postponed in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Article 54 of the Constitution, a by-election should be held within 60 days after a seat is vacated. The EC was notified of the vacancy of the Batu Sapi seat on Oct 6 by Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.
Nomination day was set for Nov 23 while early voting was fixed for Dec 1.
Abdul Ghani made the announcement after chairing a special meeting on the Batu Sapi polls.
He estimated RM6 million would be spent on the polls and expected a 70 percent turnout rate.
Voters will be given an additional 30 minutes on polling day to cast their ballots from 7.30am to 5.30pm as compared with only until 5pm during the recent Sabah state polls in September.
A total of 32,962 voters are to cast their ballots. Of this, 31,152 are normal voters, while early voters comprise 672 army voters and 1,138 personnel from the General Operations Force (PGA).
The polls this time will only see 12 days of campaigning, which is two days fewer than other polls, including the Sabah state polls.
The Batu Sapi by-election was called following the demise of former de facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong on Oct 2.
Batu Sapi, which is under the Sandakan district, is a seat traditionally won by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) until the 2018 general election.
In the last polls, Liew, who contested under the Warisan ticket, wrested the seat from PBS' Linda Tsen with a majority of 4,619 votes.
Meanwhile, the EC will also kickstart "Jom Kita Undi", a campaign designed to boost voter turnout rates via various media platforms.
EC to draft new SOP for Batu Sapi by-election, calls for 'virtual' campaigning
