Former District Officer VS Businessman In Balingian By-Election

Barisan Nasional candidate Yussibnosh Balo won in the Balingian by-election with a majority of 6,911 votes ( 72.92 per cent).

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The final tally from 39 streams showed Yussibnosh polled 8,194 votes while PKR candidate Abdul Jalil Bujang garnered 1,283 votes. There are a total of 146 spoilt votes.

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The result was announced by returning officer Shafrie Saili at 7.45pm. The margin of victory was greater than the 5,154-vote majority obtained by former Chief Minister and assemblyman Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in the 2011 state election.

Yussibnosh also won the count in all 41 voting streams. Turnout was 72.33%, slightly higher than the 70% recorded in 2011.

As of 10am, 58 early voters (43%) of the Balingian by-election have cast their ballots at the district police station's multipurpose hall here.

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Election Commission (EC) secretary Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh said 58 voters or 43 per cent of the 133 constituents who had registered to vote early cast their ballots after the polling stream was opened at 8am. “Since today is the Police Day celebration, the voting process is expected to be a bit slow in the morning and pick up later until it ends at 5 pm,” he told reporters after visiting the hall to witness the voting process.

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"The process is slow a bit this morning due to many have attended the 207th Police Day celebration," he said.

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The 133 constituents who had registered to vote early are scheduled to cast their ballots at the multipurpose hall of the Mukah Police headquarters where one polling stream will be opened. The ordinary polling is scheduled for Saturday, and the rest of the 13,366 voters will cast their ballots at 21 polling streams then.

The Balingian by-election will see a straight fight between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.

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Yussibnosh Balo (Barisan-PBB), 47, filed his nomination papers around 9am Monday, followed by Abdul Jalil Bujang (Pakatan-PKR), 55, at 9.12am.

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Yussibnosh is the former Dalat district officer while Abdul Jalil is a businessman.

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BN candidate Yussibnosh Balo will be challenged by Abdul Jalil Bujang from PKR to wrest the state seat, which was vacated by Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, when he retired as Sarawak Chief Minister last Feb 28.

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Meanwhile Election Commission Chairman (EC) Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd told reporters that he was satisfied with the nomination process today. He said the nomination process was one of the best that was conducted in the country and was confident the situation would continue during the campaign period and polling day. “There was no untoward incident and supporters from both parties had shown that they respect the lifestyle and values of the local community,” he said.

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The N.51 seat was vacated when former Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who was the state assemblyman for the seat, stepped down on Feb 28. Taib, the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president, appointed the party’s vice-president Tan Sri Adenan Satem as the new chief minister.

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Taib had been the assemblyman for Balingian since 2001.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem disclosed that a few names have been submitted to him as potential candidates for the upcoming Balingan by-election. According to him, he will discuss the matter with his senior colleagues in Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) as well as the state BN to come out with the most suitable person (candidate).

“We are consciously confident that we can win the by-election as we had won Balingian so many times before,” he said, adding that he will announce the BN candidate in due course. When told that a few independent candidates will join in the fray in Balingian, Adenan said, “Independents are free to contest wherever they like but we cannot guarantee they will not lose their deposits.”

The Election Commission has announced that the N51 Balingian by-election, will take place on March 29.

He also said that the by-election was scheduled for a Saturday to enable Christian voters to attend Sunday church service.

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"For the Balingian by-election, the EC will use the Suarah Mesra Mukah Hall as the nomination centre and the official tallying centre," he said in a press conference at the Election Commission headquarters here today.

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Its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the nomination day would fall on March 17, while early voting would be on March 25.

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The campaigning period for the by-election will be 12 days. "We will form three campaign election enforcement teams to monitor the situation on the ground during the campaigning period.

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“Twenty-two polling centres will be opened with 21 normal polling centres and one for early voting. We will use the 2012 voting registry that has been updated up till Feb 27. “Currently we have 13,366 registered voters with 13,233 and 133 early voters,” said EC chairperson Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof.

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Abdul Aziz also said that EC will be appointing local independent observers, especially from Sarawak, to ensure a smooth by-election in Balingian. “To those who claim to be any kind of observers or monitoring body it will be the same, if you are not appointed by the EC, you will not be able to enter the prohibited areas,” he told a press conference in the EC headquarters in Putrajaya.

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During the 10th state polls in April 2011, Taib won with a majority of 5,154 votes, defeating independent candidate Datuk Salleh Jafaruddin and Suriati Abdullah from PKR. Salleh garnered 1,056 votes while Suriati garnered 871 votes.

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Abdul Aziz said the by-election will cost RM910,213, and that 441 EC officers will deployed.

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Touching on whether or not it would be more expensive to hold near simultaneous by-elections, Abdul Aziz said it has been EC’s “tradition” to do so when they have multiple by-elections. “We want to lessen the politicking. So, traditionally we have always tried to hold multiple by-elections simultaneously if it ever occurs. This will also save everyone’s time,” said Abdul Aziz.

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