updated version

The Election Commission today announced that the by-election for the Ketari state seat in Pahang will be held on Sunday, March 31.

EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, who made the announcement after a two-hour meeting at the commission headquarters in Putrajaya, added that nomination day has been fixed for March 23, leaving eight days for campaigning.

He urged the media to give fair coverage to all contesting parties and called on political parties, candidates and campaign workers to abide by the election laws and campaigning ethics.

The success of this by-election depends on the cooperation from all parties, he told journalists.

Asked about the reported violence during the Indera Kayangan by-election two months ago, Abdul Rashid said such incidents concern the police.

These incidences do not relate to the election laws. They will be completely dealt with by the police.

Police to keep watch

However, he said the commission has met with the police after receiving complaints from opposition parties that their supporters were victims of violence in Indera Kayangan.

Abdul Rashid added the police are well aware of such violence and would take certain measures to ensure the problem does not reoccur.

The Jan 19 Indera Kayangan by-election  a state seat in Perlis  was marred by reports of assaults against mostly opposition campaign workers. Cars belonging to opposition leaders were also stoned and damaged.

Last week, Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail met with Abdul Rashid and presented him with two memoranda on improving transparency and fair play in elections.

The upcoming Ketari by-election will see a straight fight between Gerakans Yum Ah Ha and DAPs Choong Siew Onn.

The seat fell vacant following the death of its representative, Loke Koon Kam of Gerakan.

The Barisan Nasional candidate won with a 231-vote majority in the 1999 general elections, beating Choong from DAP, which was then a Barisan Alternatif component party.

Electoral rolls

According to Abdul Rashid, the electoral rolls to be used in Ketari will be the one gazetted on Dec 27 last year and updated until March 12.

Ketari has 17,143 registered voters, of which 95 are postal votes.

The constituency is made up of 53.83 percent of Chinese Malaysians (9,228), 39.12 percent of Malay Malaysians (6,706) and 5.21 percent of Indian Malaysians (843).

The remaining registered voters are 1.3 percent Orang Asli (223), 0.21 percent of bumiputras from Sabah and Sarawak (36) and 0.33 percent of others (57).

It is estimated that 166 people will be appointed by the Election Commission to assist in the conducting of the by-election, which will involved 10 polling stations and 33 ballot boxes.

Abdul Rashid said that the result is expected to be announced by 10pm on polling day.