POLLING for the Tg Piai parliamentary seat will be on November 16, with candidates nomination day on November 2, said Election Commission chairman Azhar Azizan Harun.

He said it had set early voting for November 12.

He said overseas voting is open for registration from today to October 31.

Azhar announced the dates, after a meeting at the commission headquarters in Putrajaya today.

The by-election was necessitated by the death of Md Farid Md Rafik of Pakatan Harapan-Bersatu on September 21 due to heart complications. He was 42.

Farid, who was a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and an anaesthesiologist by profession, captured the seat in the 14th general election in May 2018.

He polled 21,255 votes to defeat Wee Jeck Seng (BN-MCA) and Nordin Othman (PAS) by 524 votes. Wee had garnered 20,731 votes and Nordin, 2,962 votes.

Nominations and vote tallying will be carried out at Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim in Pontian, said Azhar.

He said the nomination forms will be sold at the Pontian district office, Johor EC office and EC headquarters from October 8.

“To ease the process, I urge the candidates to submit their forms before the nomination day.

“The early vetting process will begin on October 28.”

According to EC, 1,019 people have been appointed to run the by-election with 28 voting stations. The by-election is expected to cost RM2.67 million.

Azhar said the electoral roll for the second half this year (up to September 28) will used for the by-election.

According to the updated roll, there are 52,986 registered voters consisting of 52,698 ordinary voters, 280 early voters and eight overseas voters.

The EC is targeting a 70% turnout and has increased 26 new polling streams to reduce the congestion during polling day. Polling has also being extended to 5.30pm. – October 1, 2019.