SG KANDIS POLLS | DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang says many "important questions" will be answered at the conclusion of today's by-election in Sungai Kandis – chief among which whether BN candidate Lokman Noor Adam will equal the vote share of his coalition and PAS in the 14th general election.

This is as several PAS leaders had openly called on members and supporters to deny Pakatan Harapan's Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni victory in today’s polls.

BN and PAS garnered a combined 19,091 votes on May 9, but the late Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei won the seat with a 12,480-vote majority.

The assemblyperson passed away on July 2 due to lymphoma, triggering the by-election for the Selangor state seat.

"The question is what percentage of PAS membership will blindly support such an Umno-PAS partnership to restore Najib Abdul Razak to the position of prime minister," Lim said in a statement today.

'Poisoned chalice'

Lim also deemed BN's offer to make way for PAS to contest in the upcoming Seri Setia by-election a "poisoned chalice."

"This is a poisoned chalice, as in GE14, the BN candidate won 9,878 votes, while the PAS candidate secured 4,563 votes against the winning Pakatan Harapan candidate who polled 29,250, winning with a majority of 19,372.

“Will PAS drink from the poisoned chalice offered by Umno?"

BN deputy chairperson Mohamad Hasan said yesterday that the coalition will give way to PAS in Seri Setia in return for PAS' "sacrifice" in staying out of Sungai Kandis.

Lim further questioned if an action would be taken against former premier Najib Abdul Razak for allegedly campaigning on polling day.

He was referring to the objection by Bersih executive director Yap Swee Seng on a Facebook posting by the former BN chair this morning, in which he appealed to voters to support Lokman.

Yap had said this contravened Section 26 of the Election Offences Act 1954, which states that no person shall on polling day give any form of address nor canvass for votes by “whatever means" on behalf of any candidate.

"I agree with Bersih that former prime minister Najib had contravened election laws with his Facebook appeal this morning to the Sungai Kandis by-election voters to vote for the Umno candidate, Lokman.

"Will Najib be charged in court for violation of the election laws?

"Najib’s violation of the election laws in his last-minute appeal to the voters of Sungai Kandis to vote for Lokman is an indication of the desperation of Najib, who hoped that the by-election would give him a new lease of life and the warranty and justification to launch a no-holds-barred campaign," his statement read.

Hence, Lim said today's polls would be a test of the integrity and purpose of the country’s election laws.

The Seri Setia seat fell vacant after the death of assemblyperson Shaharuddin Badaruddin on Thursday from colon cancer.

No date has been set for the by-election.