KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — PAS is confident of being given way by the other partners in the opposition pact to field its candidate in the Bagan Pinang state seat by-election.
Its vice-president Salahuddin Ayub said the opposition pact had been sticking to the basic principle that a component party which had contested a seat would be allowed to contest it again if there was a vacancy.
“If there are dissenting voices, it’s only normal. We respect their views but based on the nine past by-elections, the consensus stays,” he told reporters at the PAS central headquarters, here, today.
He was commenting on the statement by the Telok Kemang Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Youth which asked that the seat be contested by PKR.
On the candidate to be fielded by PAS, Salahuddin said the matter would be discussed at the party’s Central Committee meeting on Sept 13.
The Bagan Pinang seat fell vacant following the death of the incumbent assemblyman Azman Mohd Noor from Barisan Nasional three days ago.
Meanwhile, another PAS vice-president and Pokok Sena member of parliament Datuk Mahfuz Omar called on the Election Commission (EC) to meet the party’s demands with regard to postal voting to ensure a clean, fair and transparent by-election this time.
He said the EC should abolish the Appendix 2 form containing the postal voter’s personal details like name, identity card number and the ballot paper serial number as verification, which had to be enclosed together with the ballot paper.
He claimed that since the postal voter and his choice of candidate could be identified, the voter would be afraid to vote for the opposition candidate.
“I ask that the form be abolished or at least sent in separately or kept in a separate file, and only the ballot paper be dropped into the postal vote bag.
Mahfuz said PAS also asked that representatives of the candidates or contesting parties be allowed to witness the voting process and allowed to watch over the ballot boxes and to accompany the ballot boxes to the counting centre.
He said the EC should also be counting the postal votes on the same day after the voting process at the army and police camps, to avoid keeping the ballot boxes, hence preventing cheating.
Of the 14,192 registered voters in Bagan Pinang, 4,925 are postal voters. — Bernama
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BN/UMNO already win 30% votes from postal voters and they need 25% to win over PAS in Bagan Pinang by- election. Pakatan Rakyat must work extra super hard to secure 100% votes from total 30% Chinese and Indian votes and balance 30% from Malay PAS supporter to "LANYAK" UMNO candidate.
Let see BN will win on "Postal Votes" ! Pakatan will win on "People Votes" in Bagan Pinang by-election.