Seri Setia by-election, 2018

     Seri Setia state constituency boundaries within the Petaling Jaya parliamentary constituency

A by-election was held on 8 September 2018 for the Selangor State Legislative Assembly seat of Seri Setia.[1] The seat became vacant after the death of the incumbent assemblyman and Selangor state executive councillor, Shaharuddin Badaruddin on 2 August 2018 from colon cancer.[2] Shaharuddin was a member of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party), a component party of the state ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition. This will be the third by-election for the Selangor State Assembly since the 2018 general election, after the Sungai Kandis and Balakong by-elections. Shaharuddin won the seat with a majority of 19,372 votes, defeating BN’s Yusoff M Haniff, PAS’s Mohd Ghazali Daud and independent S Vigneswaran.[3] This by-election was held on the same day as the Balakong by-election.[1] The nomination day was on 18 August 2018, with a 21-day campaigning period until election day.[1]

The by-election saw a straight fight between Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Halimey Abu Bakar from the PKR and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) candidate Halimah Ali. In opposite to the Sungai Kandis and Balakong by-elections, the Barisan Nasional (BN) decided not to contest in Seri Setia. This was widely regarded as a sign of cooperation between PAS and BN, designed to ensure there is only a single opposition candidate for each by-election.[4]

Campaign

The by-election campaign largely focused on bread and butter issues, such as local development and the introduction of a new sales tax replacing the GST.[5][6]

A case of negative campaigning marred the final days of campaign. The PAS candidate Halimah claimed that Seri Setia was too "intelligent" to vote for "local boy with an outdated mentality", insinuating about her opponent's poor origins. These remarks were criticised by the PH camp.[7]

Result

PKR’s Halimey Abu Bakar, got 13,725 votes, defeating PAS’ Dr Halimah Ali who got 9,698, getting a majority of 4,027 votes thus retaining the seat for PKR and Pakatan Harapan.[8] PAS significantly increased its share of vote, which was credited to the fact BN not contesting the seat.[9]

Selangor state by-election, 8 September 2018: Seri Setia
Upon the death of incumbent, Shaharuddin Badaruddin
Party Candidate Votes%∆%
PHHalimey Abu Bakar13,72558.60- 8.02
PASHalimah Ali9,69841.40+ 31.01
Total valid votes 23,423 100.00
Total rejected ballots 1640.69- 0.23
Unreturned ballots 28
Turnout 23,61544.15- 40.29
Registered electors 53,492
Majority 4,02717.20- 26.92
PH hold Swing - 19.52
Source(s)

"Federal Government Gazette - Notice of Contested Election - By-election of the State Legislative Assembly of N.32 Seri Setia for the State of Selangor [P.U. (B) 499/2018]" (PDF). Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-19.

"Federal Government Gazette - Results of Contested Election and Statement of the Poll after the Official Addition of Votes for the By-election of N.32 Seri Setia [P.U. (B) 523/2018]" (PDF). Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-19.

Previous result

Selangor state election, 2018: Seri Setia
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Pakatan Harapan (PKR) Shaharuddin Badaruddin 29,250 66.62 Increase9.49
BN Yusoff M Haniff 9,878 22.50 Decrease20.37
PAS Mohd Ghazali Daud 4,563 10.39 N/A
Independent Vigweswaran T Subramaniam 217 0.49 N/A
Rejected ballots 411 0.92 Decrease0.66
Majority 19,372 44.12 Increase29.86
Turnout 44,457 84.44 Increase0.21
Registered electors 52,650
PKR hold Swing Increase14.93

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Seri Setia and Balakong by-elections to run concurrently". Malaysiakini. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Seri Setia rep Shaharuddin dies". Malaysiakini. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin to be buried on Friday". New Strait Times. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  4. ↑ Muhammad, Anne (18 August 2018). "Harapan-PKR faces PAS in Seri Setia straight fight". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Ramasamy, Manirajan (23 August 2018). "Education will be thrust of Seri Setia development". New Straits Times. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  6. ↑ Epi, Zainal (5 September 2018). "In Seri Setia, new tax set to weigh on Pakatan's chances". Malay Mail. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Lee, Annabelle (6 September 2018). "Harapan candidate tears up over rival's 'local boy' criticism". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "Pakatan Harapan gets first electoral victories as a coalition". Free Malaysia Today. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Kamarulzaman, Zikri; Aw, Nigel (8 September 2018). "In new opposition alliance, BN gets short end of the stick". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
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