PONTIAN, Nov 13 — After 12 days of campaigning and with only three days left before polling for the Tanjung Piai Parliamentary by-election, the candidates contesting in the poll are highly confident of filling up the vacancy for the Parliamentary seat this Saturday.
When asked on the level of confidence of the candidates, almost all came up with similar responses that they were capable of winning as they felt that their programs and campaigning received positive response from the constituents.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Karmaine Sardini expressed his confidence in defending the Tanjung Piai Parliamentary seat for his party in the poll.
He felt the positive reaction received from the residents when meeting them had given a “feel good” sign of winning the by-election.
“The response given by the people when we met them had given us a (positive) feeling. The same is also true with regard to our instinct. InsyaAllah... (can win) pray for me,” he said after visiting the Kampung Melayu Raya District Polling Centre in Pekan Nanas, here today.
With less than three days to go before the campaign period ends, he was endeavouring to explain to the electorates the importance for PH to win the by-election.
For Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng who had served for two terms as Tanjung Piai Member of Parliament from 2008 until 2018, he also expressed optimism of regaining the Parliamentary seat as he perceived positive support from the constituents throughout the campaigning period so far.
Wendy Subramaniam, representing Gerakan, believed that the good response and positive reaction received during the campaign showed that the party’s objective of winning the Tanjung Piai Parliamentary election would be achieved.
The president of Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah, Datuk Dr Badrulhisham Abdul Aziz meanwhile said that he was not afraid of the competition from his opponents, in fact he was confident that the support for him would increase from the Tanjung Piai electorates.
He felt that the support was influenced by the house-to-house campaigning… in fact, the feedback for the Berjasa campaign was that it was most aggressive,” he said.
As for the Independent candidate, Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar, she said that besides her smooth campaigning now, she was also confident of getting solid support from the electorates especially the B40 group on polling day.
“In this regard, I will take the opportunity to continue approaching the people before the campaign period ends,” she added.
Another independent candidate, Dr Ang Chuan Lock said although his chances of winning was slim, he was confident that he still had an “open” chance of victory due to the positive support anticipated from the electorates in the Tanjung Piai Parliamentary constituency.
“Of course, I was less confident previously, but after going on the campaign and meeting the voters, most of them gave positive feedback and support to me,” he said.
The Parliamentary by-election for Tanjung Piai is being held following the death of the incumbent member, namely the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, from PH due to heart complication on Sept 21 this year.
For the record, the Tanjung Piai Parliamentary constituency has a total of 52,986 registered voters comprising 52,698 ordinary voters, 280 early voters and eight absentee voters as they are outside the country. — Bernama
