EC postpones Tioman polling to Dec 7

GE15 | The election for the Tioman state seat in Pahang has been postponed to Dec 7, following the death of its Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Md Yunus Ramli.

In a statement, Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Ghani Salleh said nomination day will be on Nov 24, while early voting will take place on Dec 3.

"The EC held a special meeting regarding the matter after the returning officer returned the election writ, and decided that polling for the Tioman state seat will have to be moved to another date," he said.

The campaigning period will be 13 days from nomination day, while online applications for postal votes will be open from today to Nov 22.

It is worth noting Tioman, Muadzam Shah, and Bukit Ibram are state seats that fall under the Rompin parliamentary constituency.

The voting process in the Rompin parliamentary seat and the latter two state seats, will go on as usual.

The nomination process for the Tioman seat on Nov 24 will take place at Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah in Rompin, Pahang.

"All qualified candidates who have been verified previously are required to be present at the nomination centre to draw their number on the ballot paper.

“Meanwhile, new candidates who wish to contest in the GE15 election for Tioman have to hand over their completed nomination papers… on nomination day,” he said.

Earlier today, it was reported that Yunus, 61, died at Rompin Hospital at 3.30am today after he was rushed there by family members.

'New candidate will come from PAS'

The deceased, who was Sungai Puteri PAS division chief, had previously contested for the same state seat in the 2018 general election.

In GE15, the Tioman state seat would have seen a five-way fight between Yunus, Sulaiman Bakar (independent), Osman A Bakar (Pejuang), Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly (Pakatan Harapan) and Mohd Johari Hussain (BN).

Meanwhile, Pahang PN chairperson Saifuddin Abdullah said the new PN candidate for the Tioman seat will still be from PAS.

This is because the seat belongs to PAS, Bernama quoted Saifuddin telling reporters after casting his ballot at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Sungai Talam in Kuantan, Pahang, today.

The postponement of the Tioman election is the second one so far in GE15 - the first being the Padang Serai parliamentary seat following the death of its incumbent cum Harapan contender M Karupaiya.

Polling for Padang Serai has also been postponed to Dec 7, the EC announced yesterday.

Malaysians head to the polls today, with early voting having already taken place on Nov 15.

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