Live Updates from Bagan Pinang

8.52am: For BN, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, together with MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat arrive at the nomination centre escorted by BN supporters in the drizzle. BN candidate Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad has not arrived.

8.40am: Rain begins to ease.

8.35am: Among Pakatan leaders showing their support for the PAS candidate includes PKR vice-president Azmin Ali and Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

8.28am: Heavy rain prompts supporters and press  to move nearer to the nominations centre for cover. No visible presence of BN supporters.

8.20am: Police ask Pakatan supporters to stay off the road, moving them into a clearing beside the road. Supporters, now in the thousands, mostly carrying PAS flags are marching up a road which leads to the back entrance of the Port Dickson Municipal Council building. PAS candidate Zulkefly Mohamad Omar, PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP Youth chief Anthony Loke are leading the march.

8.15am: Several hundred more Pakatan Rakyat supporters are marching towards the nomination centre. About a thousand PR supporters are about to congregate, blocking the main road to traffic. They are chanting “Hidup, hidup, hidup PR!”

8.04am: About a hundred Pakatan Rakyat (PR) supporters carrying PAS, PKR and DAP flags have gathered on both sides of the road near the Port Dickson Municipal Council complex, where nominations will be held. Cheers and jeers occasionally erupt from the group.

7.52am: It has started to drizzle. Traffic builds up along the main road near the nomination centre. A crowd of PAS supporters boo at passing police vehicles.

7am: There is a handwritten sign next to a drinks stall outside the nomination centre, which reads: “Sebagai tanda syukur Tan Sri Isa jadi calon Barisan Nasional, jom minum air tebu percuma.”

6.50am: Activity outside the nomination centre picks up as party supporters and police personnel roll in. A nasi lemak stall in a nearby house is doing brisk business. A bus decked with Umno and BN flag drives by, likely carrying supporters. Cloudy morning, it could rain.

Photo by Chua Sue-Ann

6.35am: About five police trucks ferrying police and light strike force personnel drive past the nomination centre.

6.10am: About 10 traffic police on motorcycles are guarding the entrance of the Port Dickson Municipal Council complex, which is situated on a hill, ahead of nominations at 9am.

6am: Stall operators selling food and PAS paraphernalia have started setting up shop on the roadside near BHP petrol station. PAS supporters plan to gather there after morning prayers before marching to the Port Dickson Municipal Council building for nominations. Barisan Nasional supporters meanwhile plan to march to the nomination centre from the Port Dickson District Office.

5.50am: Dozens of cars line the street outside the Bagan Pinang mosque where PAS supporters are scheduled to perform morning prayers before meeting to march to the nomination centre in support of PAS’ candidate Zulkefly Mohd Omar.

PORT DICKSON: Election fever in the beachside town of Bagan Pinang appears to be shadowed by overcast ahead of candidate nominations this morning, where at least two candidates are expected to square off for the state seat.

The Bagan Pinang by-election is likely to be a contest between Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad and PAS’ state chief Zulkefly Mohamad Omar.

Isa, an influential political veteran, is expected to comfortably win the contest having been Negeri Sembilan menteri besar for more than 20 years and helms the Teluk Kemang Umno division, which Bagan Pinang is situated in.

Isa first became an elected representative in 1978 after he won the Linggi state seat. In 2004, he won the Jempol parliamentary seat and briefly held office as Federal Territories Minister in former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s cabinet.

Meanwhile, Zulkefly is a 44-year-old local businessman who holds a Masters in Science from Universiti Putra Malaysia.

During the general election last year, Zulkefly contested and lost the Lenggeng state seat to Umno’s Mustapha Salim by 1,285 votes.

It remains to be seen if former Telok Kemang Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) committee member Shahruddin Abdul Hamid, who quit the party yesterday, would follow through with his intention to contest as an
independent.

Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof yesterday said only BN and PAS’ candidates had purchased nomination forms from the EC.

However, Shahruddin told Bernama that his agent had bought nomination forms from the Seremban EC office four days ago.

The Bagan Pinang contest will see eight days of campaigning from today to polling day which is fixed on Oct 11. It is the ninth by-election held since the general election in March last year, was called after its assemblyman Azman Mohammad Noor passed away on Sept 4.

During the general elections, the Umno incumbent won the seat with a majority of 2,333 votes after obtaining 6,430 votes against PAS’ candidate Ramli Ismail’s 4,097 votes.

Bagan Pinang is an Umno stronghold situated within the Teluk Kemang parliamentary constituency, held by PKR’s Datuk Kamarul Baharin Abbas.

Bagan Pinang has 13,664 voters of whom 8,577 or 62.77% are Malays, 1,498 (10.96%) Chinese, 2,834 (20.74%) Indians and others, 755 (5.54%). The figure includes the 4,604 postal voters.