PUTRAJAYA, July 18 ― Kuala Terengganu voters will elect a new federal representative in a by-election that will be held simultaneously with the six state polls on August 12, the Election Commission (EC) announced this afternoon.
Nomination day will also be held on July 29, the same date set for the elections to elect new governments in Selangor, Penang, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah and Terengganu. There will be a two-week campaign period.
Early voting, reserved for postal voters and police and security personnel, will be on August 8.
The Kuala Terengganu federal seat was made vacant after the Election Court in Terengganu nullified the 15th general election result over an allegation that the PAS candidate, Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim, had given what amounted to bribes.
Amzad Hashim had defeated Datuk Mohd Zubir Embong of Barisan Nasional with a majority of 40,907 votes. He denied the allegation.
In delivering his decision, High Court judge Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril said the petitioner, Mohd Zubir, successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt that there was an element of bribery during the election campaign.
Justice Mohd Firuz said even though the petitioner was not called as a witness, there were “other” sufficient evidence to declare the Kuala Terengganu result invalid in accordance with Section 36 of the Election Offences Act.
Amzad said he plans to appeal against the ruling.
As of July 21, a total of 123,575 people will be eligible to vote in the by-election. There are four state seats within the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency — Wakaf Mempelam, Bandar, Ladang and Batu Buruk.
The by-election will cost just under half-a-million-ringgit, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said at the press conference to announce the polling dates.
