Polling begins in Bagan Pinang

PORT DICKSON, Oct 11 – Voters began streaming into polling stations at 8am for the Bagan Pinang by-election that appears to be Barisan Nasional’s to lose after Pakatan Rakyat struggled through the campaign period to get its message across in a constituency where one-third of the electorate are postal voters.

The ruling Barisan Nasional state government is fielding the popular Tan Sri Mohamed Isa Samad, who as Negri Sembilan mentri besar for 22 years, brought development to the seaside resort town dominated by a large army base. The dimunitive leader is making a comeback after a three-year party suspension for vote-buying.

Pakatan Rakyat, which has won seven by-elections in a row in the peninsula, is likely to face its first-ever defeat despite fielding PAS Negri Sembilan commissioner Zulkefly Mohammad Omar as its ground network is weak and national issues have little traction in the coastal town.

BN and PAS supporters outside SK Kampung Baru Si Rusa a polling station with 1,553 civilian voters. – Picture by Adib Zalkapli - The Malaysian Insider

The Election Commission (EC) has opened eight polling centres with 18 polling streams for the 9,060 registered normal voters while another 4,604 have cast their ballots through the post last Thursday and Friday. PAS has claimed that most of the postal voters are actually retired servicemen but the EC says the onus is on the ex-soldiers to re-register as normal voters.

Voting begins at 8am and ends at 5pm and with a weather forecast of rain, the EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof has appealed to voters to turn up early. He also expected the results to be announced by 8pm tonight.

“If all goes well, we should be able to know the result between 7.15pm and 7.30pm. But it’s better we announce it after the Maghrib (evening) prayers at 8pm when the supporters of both parties will be present,” he told reporters after visiting polling centres in Ladang Sua Betong here Saturday.

The Bagan Pinang by-election is a straight fight between Isa and Zulkefly when the seat fell vacant on the death of state assemblyman, Azman Mohd Noor of the BN, on Sept 4. He had won the seat in Election 2008 by 2,333 votes.

Barisan Nasiona currently rules Negri Sembilan with a simple majority and a victory will slow down Pakatan Rakyat’s efforts to take over the state government by the next general election. The opposition currently controls 15 seats in the 36-member state assembly.

Isa is expected to win as Teluk Kemang, within which Bagan Pinang is situated, is his stronghold and he had been an elected representative in the neighbouring state constituency of Linggi since 1978.

The former Umno vice-president, whose candidacy was opposed by party veterans including Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has been credited with Umno’s revival of spirits despite the fact that he was indicted for money politics by the party.

But PAS remained confident despite fighting in an unfamiliar territory, where it lacks local machinery.

“There has been no response from the other side,” said Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad the campaign operation director for PAS, referring to the issues brought up by the party’s campaign, specifically, the alleged failure of Isa’s administration.

Across the Teluk Kemang parliamentary constituency, the Islamist party only has 4 branches, three in Bagan Pinang and one in Port Dickson town with total membership of about 600. Umno has 12 branches in Bagan Pinang alone.

For the final two days of campaigning, PAS was relying on the presence of Anwar to mount a high profile campaign, after days of focussing on local issues.

“We started from inside out, touching on issues close to the people before we embark on high impact programmes with Datuk Seri Anwar and Tuan Guru Nik Aziz,” Dzulkefly told The Malaysian Insider in response to criticism to the party’s campaign strategy.

Dzulkefly, who is the party strategist, remained confident when met on the last day of campaign.

To win, party officials hoped to increase its share of postal voters, where it obtained 25 per cent of the total votes from the members of the security forces. PAS is also relying on more than 1,000 outstation voters mostly residing in the Klang Valley to vote for Zulkefly, who had contested three times in the Lenggeng seat and lost.