Cameron Highlands parliamentary by-election set for Jan 26

Local council elections are called the 'third vote' after elections for federal and state governments.

PUTRAJAYA: Polling for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat will be held on Saturday, Jan 26, with nomination day on Jan 12 and early voting set for Jan 22.

The announcement was made by Election Commission (EC) chief Azhar Harun, after a meeting at the EC headquarters here.

Overseas voting is open for registration from Dec 19 and will be closed on Jan 11.

And for the first time, results of the by-election would be broadcast live to the public on the EC's social media platforms, said Azhar.

There are 32,009 registered voters who are eligible to vote for the by-election.

On Nov 30, the Election Court declared Barisan Nasional’s win in the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat at the 14th General Election null and void. It said it found that corrupt practices were committed.

The incumbent, Datuk C. Sivarraajh, did not appeal the court’s decision.

Later on Dec 13, the High Court nullified the GE14 result for the Cameron Highlands seat under Section 36 (2) (a) of the Election Offences Act 1954.

The Cameron Highlands by-election is the fifth to be called after the 14th General Election in May.

The first one was the Sungai Kandis by-election in Selangor on Aug 4, which was triggered following the death of its incumbent Shuhaimi Shafiei of PKR.

The deaths of the incumbents of Balakong and Seri Setia seats in Selangor caused two by-elections to be held simultaneously on Sept 8.

Then on Oct 13, the Port Dickson by-election was called following the resignation of its incumbent to make way for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's return to Parliament.

All four by-elections were successfully defended by Pakatan Harapan. The Cameron Highland seat is the first BN seat to be contested after GE14.