KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — The battle for 245 state seats in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu will officially begin tomorrow.
A total of 173 nomination centres across the six states will open promptly at 9 am to allow prospective candidates, including those wishing to contest as independents, to submit their nomination papers.
Also to be held tomorrow is the nomination for the by-election for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat, which was declared vacant following the Terengganu Election Court’s decision to nullify the victory of Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim of PAS in the 15th General Election.
Immediately after the nomination process is concluded at 10 am, all candidates will be free to campaign for 14 days, or until 11.59 pm on Aug 11, as set by the Election Commission (EC).
Early voting for the six state elections and also the Kuala Terengganu by-election is set on Aug 8, and polling on Aug 12.
It is the first time the six states are holding their state elections separately from the General Election (GE) after they decided not to dissolve their respective state assemblies after the Dewan Rakyat was dissolved on Oct 10 last year.
The 15th GE to elect new Members of Parliament was held on Nov 19, simultaneously with the state elections of Perak, Pahang and Perlis.
Melaka, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, on the other hand, had already held their respective state elections long before the GE15.
The State Assembly of Kelantan which has 45 seats was only dissolved on June 22, followed by 56-seat State Assembly of Selangor on June 23.
The 40-seat Penang State Assembly, 36-seat Kedah State Assembly and 32-seat Terengganu State Assembly were dissolved simultaneously on June 28, while the 36-seat Negeri Sembilan State Assembly completed its full five-year term before being dissolved on July 1.
According to EC’s statistics, a total of 9,773,571 registered electors were eligible to vote in the six state elections with Selangor having the highest number at 3,747,057; Kedah (1,585,085); Kelantan (1,411,912); Penang (1,234,198); Terengganu (930,894); and Negeri Sembilan (864,425).
The six state polls are also the first battlefield that sees the cooperation of PH (Pakatan Harapan which comprises PKR, DAP and Amanah) and BN (Barisan Nasional) to face the challenges from PN (Perikatan Nasional which comprises Bersatu, PAS and Gerakan).
MUDA, on the other hand, decided to go solo and has named 20 candidates for the state polls while Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) announced that they will contest 13 seats, and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), to contest four.
Berjasa and Pejuang, however, decided not to contest any seat.
