Former Negeri Sembilan Mentri Besar Mohd Isa Abdul Samad is the most likely Umno's choice of candidate for the Bagan Pinang state seat by-election.

NONE A source told Malaysiakini today that it believes that Mohd Isa (left) is the most suitable Umno candidate to break the jinx of eight straight by-election defeats suffered by Barisan Nasional at the hands of Pakatan Rakyat in Peninsular Malaysia.

The source said that if Mohd Isa is selected as the candidate, as predicted in Thursday's Umno meeting , then BN could win with a bigger majority and break the by-election jinx.

"Isa had been the Mentri Besar(of Negeri Sembilan) from 1982 to 2004 and his grassroots support among Umno members and other BN component parties is very good.

He is a very pleasant and sincere guy who is liked by all the voters in the state and during his tenure as state chief and MP has helped all the three races fairly and equally ," the source claimed.

Mohd Isa is also the Teluk Kemang Umno division chief and he has been given the mandate to choose the candidate by Negeri Sembilan liaison and state chief, Mohamad Hasan.

The source said that Isa can provide the morale boost to uplift the dented spirit of all the BN component parties.

BN parties took a beating during the last general election when BN won with a simple majority of 21 state seats out of the 36 state seats in the state.

"Besides Isa can also play the role of a stabilising factor in bridging the political differences among the Umno divisions in the state," the source said.

Mohd Isa rose rapidly in the Umno political arena but suffered a setback when he was accused of money politics and was suspended for six years by the Umno disciplinary committee .

However, the suspension was shortened to three years for the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad loyalist.

Lady luck failed Mohd Isa in his bid for the vice-presidents post during the recent Umno elections.

Better times ahead?

But his party supporters are hopping for better political times for the veteran political leader in the party divisions' with his nomination as the Bagan Pinang candidate.

The Bagan Pinang state by-election has been called following the death of incumbent assemblyman Azman Mohammad Noor from a blood infection on Sept 4.

In the last general election, Azman polled 6,430 votes to defeat PAS candidate Ramli Ismail with a majority of 2,333 votes.

Bagan Pinang is one of the two state seats in the Teluk Kemang parliamentary constituency held by BN.

The other, is Linggi.

This will be the ninth by-election since last year's general election.

The constituency which is generally an Umno strong-hold has about 14,000 voters of which, Malay voters make up 64 percent, Indians 20.4 percent Chinese 10.8 percent and others,4.9 percent.

There are 5,000 postal voters.

The Election Commission is set to announce the nomination and polling dates on Monday.