The Election Commission today announced that the by-elections for the Kuala Berang state seat in Terengganu and the Ba'Kelalan state seat in Sarawak will be held on Aug 28 and Sept 18 respectively.

EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said the nomination date for Kuala Berang is Aug 16 and Ba'Kelalan Sept 9.

The Kuala Berang state by-election will be the first after the March 21 general election. The seat fell vacant after assemblyperson Komaruddin Abdul Rahman died of a heart attack on July 30.

In the general election, he garnered 5,926 votes to defeat PAS candidate Dr Mamad Puteh by a majority of 1,695 votes.

Komaruddin was also the Terengganu Umno division vice-chief. Prior to the general election, he was the Kuala Berang state constituency development officer during PAS rule in Terengganu.

PAS had captured the state in the 1999 elections but Barisan Nasional reclaimed it in this year's polls.

Keen contest

The upcoming Kuala Berang by election is expected to showcase a keen contest between Umno and PAS.

PAS is expected to field Mamad once again while Umno is said to have shortlisted four candidates, including the division Wanita chief.

Despite predicting a victory for Umno as the constituency is a traditional stronghold of the party, pundits are not ruling out the possibility of PAS staging an upset.

As one observer noted: "Anything can happen in Terengganu... PAS may just get enough sympathy votes to pull off a victory."

According to Abdul Rashid, Kuala Berang has 11,430 voters including 130 postal voters while Ba'Kelalan has 7,696 voters including two postal voters.

He said the Electoral Master Roll of 2003 confirmed on April 6 this year and the 2004 First Quarter Additional Electoral Roll certified on June 14 would be used in the by-elections.

He advised all political parties, candidates, party workers and others to abide by the election rules and electoral conduct during campaigning.

The EC chairperson added that they should also refrain from referring to the election petition cases pending in the courts.

Helicopter tragedy

Meanwhile, the Ba'Kelalan by-election was called after its two-term incumbent Dr Judson Tagal perished with six others in a helicopter crash on July 12.

Jusdon was the first member of the Lun Bawang community to be appointed an assistant minister in the Sarawak government.

Trained as a medical surgeon, his political career began in 1993 when he joined the Sarawak National Party (Snap). He won the Ba'Kelalan seat three years later. He retained the seat uncontested in the last state elections in 2001

In 2001, he was appointed deputy speaker of the Sarawak state assembly. At the time of his death, Judson was the secretary-general of the fledgling Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, which was formed following a leadership struggle in Snap.

The Ba'Kelalan constituency has always been a traditional BN stronghold and the ruling front is expected to retain it without any problems.