KAJANG: PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will take on MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun for the Kajang state assembly seat by-election on March 23.
Only the two candidates filed their nomination papers when nominations opened for the seat here this morning.
Returning Officer Hassan Nawawi Abdul Rahman announced that nominations closed at 10am and the two were the only contestants for the seat.
Wan Azizah arrived at Kajang Municipal Council Sports Complex, accompanied by her husband, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim and other Pakatan leaders and supporters.
Her nomination papers was filed at around 9am
Chew also filed her nomination papers at about the same time. She was accompanied by top BN component party leaders, along with some 5,000 supporters.
There was heavy police presence surrounding the sports complex, especially at the route and entry point for Pakatan supporters. Federal Reserve Unit members were also deployed.
On the BN’s side they were playing their party anthem. Pakatan supporters were chanting “Reformasi” and “Allahu Akhbar”.
Despite nomination day being held on a weekday, there was a huge crowd of supporters running into several thousands on both side of the camps.
PKR de facto leader Anwar arrived at the nomination centre with Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim at 9.30am. Both were wearing light blue Baju Melayu – PKR colours.
The Kajang state seat fell vacant following the resignation of incumbent assemblymen Lee Chin Cheh of PKR on Jan 27. The Election Commission fixed March 23 for polling. Early polling would be held on March 19.
The state seat comprises 39,728 registered voters. At the last general election in May 2013, the seat saw a voter turnout of 87.9% with 541 spoilt votes.
In the 2013 general election PKR’s Lee garnered 19,571 votes with a 6824 majority votes. BN-MCA’s Lee Ban Seng received 12,747 votes and Mohamad Ismail (Berjasa) 1,014 votes.
The three independent candidates who contested the seat are Mohd Iwan Jefrey Abdul Majib (249 votes), Ong Yan Foo (85 votes) and Mohd Khalid Kassim (83 votes).
Aside from the two Lees, the rest of the candidates lost their election deposits.
Kajang, famous for its satay, is located in the eastern part of Selangor is one of the three state constituency in the Hulu Langat parliament constituency. It has a 342,657 population, consisting 60.4% Malays, 19.3% Chinese, 9.7% Indians, and 10.6% other ethnic groups.
Thousands at nomination centre
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters from both sides of the political divide gathered at Kompleks Sukan Majlis Perbandaran Kajang as early as 7am today, to show their support for their candidates in the by-election.
The Barisan Nasional was backed by some 5,000 diehards, while Pakatan Rakyat supporters numbering slightly more were singing and dancing to the tunes of their respective battle cry songs. No untoward incidents were reported.
BN supporters are spotted wearing T-shirts printed with words ‘Elakkan Anwar di Kajang’ ( Stop Anwar in Kajang) performing the Haka dance (Maori battle dance) made famous by the New Zealand rugby team.
The police have deployed several officers from the Unit Tindakan Khas (UTK) and 30 Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) trucks to maintain law and order during the nomination.
