The Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election will be held on May 31, with nominations on May 19, Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusoff announced today.

The by-election, the sixth to take place since last May’s general election, was called following the death of DAP’s Teluk Intan MP Seah Long Peng, 48, on May 1 as a result bladder cancer.

The by-election, with a 12-day campaign period, will take place just six days after the Bukit Gelugor by-election in Penang.

Both DAP and BN have not announced their candidates for the seat, though Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong is a strong favourite for the seat that he had held between 1999 to 2008, when he lost it to DAP’s M Manogaran by a 1,470-vote margin.

In the last general election, Mah lost to the late Seah by a majority of more than 7,000 votes.

Seah is the second DAP parliamentarian to pass away in a month, following the death of DAP veteran Karpal Singh in a road accident in Perak on April 17, which triggered the Bukit Gelugor by-election.

That by-election will take place on May 25 with nomination day being the coming Monday.

BN 2: Pakatan 2

The previous four by-elections since the last general election were for state seats: Terengganu (Kuala Besut), Kedah (Sungai Limau), Selangor (Kajang), and Sarawak (Balingian).

PAS and PKR won the Sungai Limau and Kajang by-elections, while BN won in both Balingian and Kuala Besut.

Kajang and Balingian were vacated due to political reasons, while the other two were triggered by the deaths of the incumbents.

Teluk Intan is a Chinese majority seat (42 percent), followed by 38 percent Malays and 19 percent Indians.

Aziz said 60,439 voters will be eligible to vote in the by-election, with advance voting to take place on May 27.
 
Teluk Intan Municipal Council president Ibrahim Ahmad will be the returning officer (RO) for the by-election.
 
"This by-election is expected to cost around RM1.47 million," Aziz added.