P94 Hulu Selangor - April 17 Nomination & 25 April Polling day........

The Elections Commission (EC) announced today the polling date for the Hulu Selangor by-election as April 25, with nomination day being April 17. Speaking at a press conference at the commission's headquarters in Putrajaya this morning, EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said eight days have been set aside for what is expected to be intense campaigning by the contesting parties.

Quizzed about early campaigning or political corruption which may occur because of intervention by either Pakatan-led Selangor or the BN federal government, Abdul Aziz said that it is not exactly within their purview. "We have neither the experience nor the authority to deal with corruption. That is the purview of another agency. But we hope that the agency in question will cooperate fully with us to tackle this issue if it arises."

"Well, even their name is the same as ours," joked the EC chief, referring to the Malay acronym of his commission (SPR) which is just one letter less than that of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (SPRM). However, he did announce the formation of six EC monitoring teams to enforce and monitor the campaigning by both sides and make sure all conform to election guidelines during the Apr 17 to Apr 25 campaigning period.

Abdul Aziz added that the standard election protocols and guidelines will be enforced and everyone will be expected to follow them. No amendments or special guidelines have been mulled as of now. However, he did say that the Hulu Selangor be-election will be a test case for the EC to adapt its rules with the more aggressive campaigning seen in previous by-elections. "We will see if we have to modify existing guidelines to suit present circumstances." Abdul Aziz added that the voter's list to be used for the by-election will be the 2009 listing updated till Mar 26.

In total, he explained there are 64,500 registered voters. 63,701 0f which are normal voters with 799 postal voters. Hulu Selangor is a semi-urban mixed seat of 63,539 voters of whom 53.9 percent are Malay, Chinese (26.7 percent) and Indians (19 percent).

This will be the country's 10th by-election since the 2008 general elections, with Pakatan Rakyat winning seven of the contests while BN bagged two.

source:malaysiakini

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