Ramadan polls for Sungai Besar

SHAH ALAM: This year's Ramadan will see voters in Sungai Besar going to the polls to choose their new member of parliament, a seat which is now vacant following the death of its incumbent, Datuk Noriah Kasnon.
There are 42,836 registered voters in the Sungai Besar parliamentary constituency.
With the campaign for the by-election to begin soon, various theories and analyses have been made on the chances of political parties which are expected to contest for the seat.
The Election Commission has set June 5 as nomination day for the Sungai Besar parliamentary by-election.
Polling is on June 18.
A senior lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Associate Professor Datuk Dr Samsul Adabi Mamat said Barisan Nasional (BN) and the opposition parties were in a win-win situation.
This being that BN had certain issues to deal with, while the opposition was shaky in terms of unity, especially involving the friction between PAS-DAP and PAS-Amanah, he added.
Looking at the complex relationship of PKR-PAS-DAP-Amanah in Selangor, Samsul Adabi did not rule out the possibility of a three-cornered fight involving BN, PAS and Amanah for the seat.
"This will have a big impact to an extent that this by-election will be the most intense in history, prior to the coming 14th General Election," he added.
"In the end, the candidate factor plays an important role," he said.
Samsul Adabi believes the constituents in Sungai Besar would want a candidate with credibility and one who was accepted by all races.
He named Sungai Panjang assemblyman Budiman Mohd Zohdi as a potential BN candidate, saying that Budiman had a good track record and was liked by the local residents.
Budiman defeated PAS' Mohd Fadzin Taslimin for the Sungai Panjang state seat with a majority of 2,183 votes in the last general election.
Sungai Panjang is one of the state seats in the Sungai Besar parliamentary constituency. Another is Sekinchan, whose assemblyman is Ng Suee Lim, from DAP.
Sungai Besar voters comprise 67.18% Malays, Chinese (30.68%), Indians (1.91%) and others (0.23%). – Bernama