Three paragliders bearing the flag of a political party flew above Dewan Sri Bernam at about 10am during the nomination for the Sungai Besar parliamentary by-election today, according to police.

Police seized the paragliders and arrested four men at the Sekolah Seri Makmur field immediately after the incident, said police media relations officer for the Sungai Besar by-election, ACP Khalil Ariffin.

He said the men, aged between 30 and 40, had violated the Civil Aviation Regulations 2016.

“I want to state here that the use of paragliders or drones is prohibited during the campaign period up to polling day,” he told a press conference in Sungai Besar.

Khalil said that otherwise the nomination for the by-election went smoothly, without any provocation by the contesting political parties which displayed political maturity.

“An estimated 5,000 party supporters marched with their candidates to the nomination centre,” he said.

He also said that 3,000 police personnel were deployed from as early as 6am for security control during the nomination period.

The Sungai Besar by-election is a three-cornered contest among Budiman Mohd Zohdi of Barisan Nasional, Dr Abdul Rani Osman of PAS and Azhar Abdul Shukor of Parti Amanah Negara.

The by-election has been necessitated by the death of the MP, Noriah Kasnon, in a helicopter crash in Sarawak on May 5.

In the 13th general election, in 2013, Noriah defeated the PAS candidate, Mohamed Salleh M Hussin, by a majority of 399 votes.

Sungai Besar has 42,655 registered voters, comprising 42,365 ordinary voters, 286 early voters and four absentee voters who are abroad.

The Election Commission has fixed June 18 as the polling day for the by-election. Early voting is on June 14.

- Bernama