PEKAN, July 4 ― The Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Chini state by-election here, Mohd Sharim Md Zain, voted at the Kelas Al-Quran dan Fardu Ain (KAFA) in Felda Chini 3, near here, today.
Mohd Sharim, 41, and his wife Norhiliyana Abd Hamid, 27, cast their ballots at 9.15am.
Mohd Sharim and Norhiliyana, dressed in matching green baju Melayu and baju kurung respectively, arrived at the KAFA compound at 9.10am, accompanied by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is the Pekan Member of Parliament.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote, Mohd Sharim urged voters to come out and fulfil their responsibility although they need to adapt to certain practices in the new normal in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah), we have successfully completed two weeks of campaigning. Now, I leave it to Allah to decide and pray for the best,” he added.
Mohd Sharim said he would visit several polling centres later and hoped that the voting process would proceed smoothly without any untoward incident.
The Chini by-election is a three-cornered fight between second-generation Felda settler Mohd Sharim and two independent candidates ― businessman Tengku Datuk Zainul Hisham Tengku Hussin, 64, and blogger Mohd Shukri Mohd Ramli, 49.
Tengku Zainul Hisham and Mohd Shukri are not registered voters in the constituency.
The by-election was necessitated by the death of incumbent assemblyman Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Harun, 60, due to a heart attack on May 7. Abu Bakar had held the Chini seat since 2004.
In the 14th general election in 2018, Abu Bakar retained the seat for BN with a winning majority of 4,622 votes, polling 10,027 votes to beat PAS' Mohd Fadhil Noor Abdul Karim, who received 5,405 votes, and Mohamad Razali Ithnain of PKR, who obtained 1,065 votes. ― Bernama
