ALOR STAR: The Election Commission's decision to postpone the Padang Serai parliamentary seat polls drew mixed reaction from the candidates.
Parti Warisan candidate Mohd Bakhri Hashim did not discount the possibility of changes to the parties and candidates line up for the polls which has now been reset to Dec 7 following the death of a candidate.
"I think it will depend heavily on the outcome of tomorrow's general election, as we will see the formation of the federal government and which parties will sit in the opposition side.
"It will also depend on the formation of political realignment in the event of no single coalition or party being able to secure a simple majority.
"In the event of the different coalition or party entering an alliance to form the government, some parties might sit out from the Padang Serai polls," he told the New Straits Times when contacted.
Bakhri said tomorrow's 15th General Election (GE15) results will carry some weight to the candidates in Padang Serai seat.
"Of course, the candidate that represents the party that leads the government will have an advantage over the other candidates.
"Also, the weightage of Padang Serai polls would be just to elect a representative in Parliament, instead of the purpose of deciding on the formation of government," he said.
Bakhri said he accepted the EC's decision as it was done within the election regulations.
Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) candidate Hamzah Abd Rahman raised his concern over the implications of possible changes to the candidate's line-up.
"During the nomination process on Nov 5, I was lined up as Number 1, among the six candidates.
"So, all my posters, banner, fliers and other campaign materials were printed based on the No. 1.
"If there are changes to the candidates line up, and I get a new number, that means I will have to take down all my posters and banners and print new ones.
"This will incur hefty costs and as a small party, it will be burdensome to us," he said when contacted.
Hamzah said while he agreed with the EC's move to postpone the polls, he was concerned about the candidates' line up.
"Ideally, we should just slide in the new candidate from Pakatan Harapan on the list so it will make it easier for every candidate. But the rules stated that it has to restart from the candidates line up."
Hamzah said he would raise the matter to EC and hoped that the regulations will be reviewed since this was the precedent case for the general election.
Meanwhile, Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk C. Sivarraajh said he was looking forward for the Dec 7 polls.
"In a way, it gives the candidates more time to reach out to more voters and provides us with the space to improve whatever shortcomings in the campaign period we had for the past 14 days."
Earlier today, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh announced that the Padang Serai seat polls have been postponed to Dec 7 following the death of Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate M. Karupaiya yesterday.
The EC has also fixed the nomination day on Nov 24, early voting on Dec 3, and polling on Dec 7.
The campaigning period is to run for 13 days.
Karupaiya, 69, died due to heart complications while being treated at the Kulim Hospital.
He was defending the seat for the second term after winning in the previous general election with a 8,813-vote majority against Muhamad Sobri Osman from Pas and Datuk Dr Leong Yong Kong from BN.
Karupaiya was supposed to face a six-cornered clash in this election against Sivarraajh, AK Ananda, Hamzah Abd Rahman (Pejuang), Datuk Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional) and Mohd Bakhri Hashim (Warisan).
There are 133,867 voters in Padang Serai, involving 133,776 regular voters, 76 police, and 15 overseas absentee voters.
Voters in Padang Serai will not be joining other Malaysians who will cast their ballots tomorrow.
Polling is from 8am to 6pm for Peninsular Malaysia and 7.30am to 5.30pm in Sabah and Sarawak.
