NOMINATION day for the Port Dickson by-election will be on September 29, while polling has been set for October 13, the Election Commission (EC) said today.

The commission also set early voting for October 9.

“For this by-election, the EC will use the 2018 second quarter electoral rolls that have 75,770 voters, comprising 68,486 ordinary voters and 7,268 early voters, and 16 overseas voters,” said EC deputy chairman Othman Mahmood at its headquarters in Putrajaya today.

For this by-election, the EC will extend the voting period to 5.30pm instead of the usual 5pm.

Othman said the EC would also add 26 new streams to reduce congestion, making it 171 streams instead of the 145 during the 14th general election. There are 39 polling districts in the Port Dickson seat.

“There will also be three voting booths for each stream compared with the normal two,” said Othman.

The EC has budget RM3.6 million for the by-election. The returning officer for the polls is Khairy Maamor, who is also Port Dickson district officer. Khairy will be assisted by nine EC personnel.

Nomination and tallying will be conducted at the Port Dickson Municipal Council office.

The seat was vacated on September 12 when incumbent MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah resigned to give way for PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim to return to Parliament.

In the last election, Danyal defeated Barisan Nasional’s V. Mogan and PAS’ Mahfuz Roslan after garnering 36,225 votes.

The 61,000-voter seat has the fifth-largest number of early voters at 9.44%, comprising 43% Malay, Chinese (33%) and Indian (22%) voters.

While PAS had indicated it would not field a candidate in Port Dickson, Umno had said it would only make a decision after its political bureau meeting on September 24.

Besides Anwar, independent Stevie Chan announced his intention to contest in the by-election.

Port Dickson, formerly known as Teluk Kemang, was first won by PKR in 2008 by Kamarul Baharin Abbas. – September 20, 2018.