NAJIB Razak’s attempt to hold on to power had an encouraging start when one of his Menteri Besar won a seat uncontested, and several other seats saw candidates from the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition disqualified under controversial circumstances.

The ruling party’s caretaker Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan, the incumbent two-term Rantau candidate, got a free pass after PKR candidate Streram Sinnasamy was barred from entering the nomination centre as he did not have his candidate pass.

His proposer and seconder also did not have the passes which would have allowed them to file the papers on his behalf.

The biggest head to roll was PKR Batu candidate Tian Chua, after the Election Commission saw it fit to disqualify the two-term MP over a court case that saw him fined RM2,000.

The move came as a shock as the courts had said he could only be disqualified if the fined exceeded RM2,000.

Batu will now be contested by Gerakan’s Dominic Lau, PAS’ Azhar Yahya, and two other independent candidates, P. Prabakaran and S. Raja Panjamurthy.

In Johor, Bukit Pasir Bersatu candidate Pizi Jihat was disqualified because he was declared a bankrupt, a claim which Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin said was flawed as their checks had cleared Pizi.

Penang Bersatu’s Penaga state candidate in Kepala Batas, Yaakob Osman, also found himself a bankrupt overnight, and was disqualified as an election candidate.

Yaakob said he last checked his financial status online yesterday, adding that he had never been a bankrupt before.

Penaga, which is held by incumbent Mohd Zain Ahmad from BN, will now see a straight fight between Zain from BN and PAS’ Yusni Mat Piah.

The PKR candidate for Kelantan’s Kuala Balah state seat, Mohd Hafidz Rizal Amran, was also barred from contesting, but returning officer Zulkifle Abdul Rahman did not state why his nomination paper was rejected.

The Kuala Balah seat, which is under the Jeli parliament constituency, is now a straight fight between PAS’ Mohd Apandi Mohamad and BN’s Abdul Aziz Derashid.

Also in Kelantan, PKR’s Mohd Azihan Che Seman was disqualified in Tawang on grounds that his identity card address was not in Kelantan, failing a prerequisite to contest in the state seat there. – April 28, 2018.