As the countdown to the Kuala Berang by-election moves into its last day today, Barisan Nasional (BN) appealed for a high voter turnout to secure victory, while PAS prepares for the 'arrival' of phantom voters.

PAS has kept its campaigning rather low key over the past week, but the opposition party has lately put up new banners in town sarcastically referring to the issue of phantom voters.

One banner read: 'Selamat datang pengundi hantu. Awas, kami sedang menunggu anda' (Welcome phantom voters. Be warned, we are waiting for you).

PAS by-election campaign director Harun Taib said the party has estimated 1,029 phantom voters would be brought in on polling day tomorrow. He did not elaborate how the party obtained the specific figure.

If the allegation was true, the 1,000-odd votes could prove decisive in sealing the fate of PAS candidate Muhyidin Abdul Rashid ( photo ).

Muhyidin, a former Hulu Terengganu parliamentarian, received only 426 votes fewer than his BN opponent in the Kuala Berang constituency at the March 21 general election.

Kuala Berang is one of the four state seats under the Hulu Terengganu parliamentary constituency.

To ward off the phantom voters, PAS has enlisted a team of lawyers to be stationed at all polling stations tomorrow.

Should there be any dubious voter spotted at the polling centres, the lawyers will help the party to file a protest.

To underline their concerns, Harun made a startling claim - 60 percent of the names on the electoral rolls provided by the Election Commission were dubious.

"To protest, we need the assistance from a legal counsel and the endorsement of the village head, or the local village committee, to vouch that the dubious name is a fake," he said.

"We have lawyers but it's very difficult to obtain the endorsement of the village head," Harun lamented when met at the PAS campaign centre in Kuala Berang.

Nevertheless, he is confident of victory.

"Our chances looks very bright, that is, if nothing untoward takes place at the last minute or during the polling day".

PAS leaders, such as its president Abdul Hadi Awang and religious leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, campaigned for Muhyidin in the past few days ago.

However, with the party's muktamar (general assembly) being held currently in Kelantan, the presence of PAS top leaders had been hardly felt in Kuala Berang.

Even Muhyidin, the PAS candidate, has kept a low profile throughout the election campaign.

Umno big guns all there

This 'low-key approach' by PAS has puzzled Umno politicians as the party called on all its top guns to campaign for its candidate, Mohd Zawawi Ismail, who is contesting under the BN ticket.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has made four visits to Kuala Berang in the past two weeks and Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein flew into the small town yesterday in a helicopter.

Najib took part in a few events including a house-to-house visit yesterday while Hishammuddin opened a new RM10.7 million secondary school in the constituency.

The deputy premier also made a visit to a mosque in Kampung Tajin, a PAS stronghold which saw a standoff between supporters of the two rival parties a few nights ago.

Later, he attended a kenduri gathering at Tanjung Pudat with the local residents and witnessed 56 PAS members submitting their Umno membership forms later in the night.

"We stand a good chance but if there is a higher voter turnout, we will have a higher majority. Otherwise, we will still win but with a lower majority," Najib told reporters.

He urged Kuala Berang voters who are residing in other states to return and cast their vote tomorrow.

Asked on the percentage of voter turnout which BN was hoping for, the deputy premier said "not less than the last general election".

At the March polls, the voter turnout was 88.68 percent. A total of 11,430 voters will cast their vote this time, of whom 99 percent are Malay Malaysians.

On the phantom voters claim, Najib replied: "The question of phantom voters does not arise, it is just because they (the voters) don't like PAS anymore that they swing back to support BN."

Other top politicians that were in town yesterday included ministers Muhyidin Yassin, Azmi Khalid, Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, Khalid Nordin, Sharizat Abdul Jalil, deputy minister Dr Ng Yen Yen and Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin.

Umno also sent Youth leader Pirdaus Ismail, a former national mosque imam, and Dr Mashitah Ibrahim, who is parliamentary secretary in the Prime Minister's Department, to give a religious ceramah last night to explain Umno's Islam Hadhari concept.

PAS has incessantly attacked Islam Hadhari since it was launched by Umno leader Abdullah before the last general election, claiming that there is only one version of Islam.

Who will win?

It is not easy to anticipate who will win the battle between these two bitter rivals tomorrow, partly because very different electoral strategies are being employed.

But a political observer noted: "Little is known about Mohd Zawawi here. If BN wins, it is because of Mat Taib (Umno vice-president and the by-election campaign director Muhammad Muhammad Taib) and Idris (Jusoh, Terengganu Menteri Besar), both of whom have relentless campaigned for him".

The Kuala Berang by-election was called following the death of Umno's Komaruddin Abd Rahman last month, who defeated PAS' Dr Mamad Puteh by a majority of 1,695 in the March 21 polls.