Manek Urai state assemblyperson Ismail Yaacob, 60, passed away at Raja Zainab Hospital in Kota Bharu at 5.55am today.

ismail yaacob al fatihah Ismail, who had been suffering long illness relating to diabetes, was a veteran PAS politician.

Ismail leaves wife Siti Zaharah Ibrahim and 10 children.

About 2,000 people attended the funeral at Ismail's house in Manek Urai Lama.

The prayers at the Manek Urai Lama mosque was led by Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Ismail was later buried at the Manek Urai Lama Muslim cemetery.

He first won Manek Urai 23 years ago at the 1986 general elections, and had held the state seat for five terms.

Ismail, however, did not contest the 2004 general election and the seat was lost to Umno's Zulkepli Omar by a tissue-thin majority of 53 vote.

However, Ismail returned to reclaim his old seat four years later.

EC to be informed on Monday

With his death, the Election Commission will have to call for yet another by-election - the seventh since the general election last year - within 60 days.

manek urai state seat 220509 The EC will be meeting on May 28 and announcement would be made on June 1.

Kelantan state speaker Mohd Nassuruddin Daud was reported in Bernama as saying that he would be officially informing the Election Commission on the seat vacancy on Monday.

Manek Urai, a seat in central Kelantan, is almost an exclusively Malay constituency with 99.3 percent Malay voters.

In 2008, Ismail won the state seat by beating Umno’s Zulkepli Omar by 1,352 majority. He bagged 5,746 votes against Zulkepli’s 4,394.

PAS controls 38 seats in Kelantan, while PKR has 1, and Umno, 6.

Najib: No walkover this time

Meanwhile, at a press conference at the PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, party election director Mustapa Ali said a candidate would be decided soon to contest in the by-election.

He however hoped that Umno would follow its decision in Penanti by not contesting in Manek Urai as well.

"I suggest Umno does not contest. If they do, I think they will lose. God willing," he said.

Umno had earlier decided to stay out of the Penanti by-election in Penang to be held later this month.

Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan nevertheless felt that the party should contest in Manek Urai.

"Personally I feel that we should contest and I will be proposing to the party leadership that we contest in this seat," he was quoted as saying in Bernama .

He said this by-election was held not due to the opposition's internal politicking but as a result of the death of the elected representative.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is on a two-day visit to Singapore, was reported to have said later today that Umno would contest the by-election.