N31 Bagan Pinang: Dates Confirmed And Umno Is Feeling Upbeat On Their Chances...

The Election Commission (EC) today fixed Oct 3 (Saturday) for nomination and Oct 11 (Sunday) for polling for the Bagan Pinang state seat by-election in Negeri Sembilan.

There will be a eight-day campaigning period.

The dates were announced by EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof at a press conference today.

Abdul Aziz said there are 13,664 voters in Bagan Pinang, of which 9,060 are normal voters while the remainder 4,604 are postal voters. The large number of postal voters are due to the presence of several army camps in the constituency. (Reported by MalaysiaKini)

Meanwhile, we have two opportunist ministers starting to make their stand on Umno's chance of retaining this seat.

Opportunist #1

Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim is upbeat about the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) chances in the Bagan Pinang state by-election.

Saying that the coalition would be able to retain the seat, he said the BN had been implementing development programmes in the area and that its leaders had done a lot of good deeds to the people there.

“We should be able to counter any criticism and bring the people’s attention to see things in a positive manner,” he told reporters after attending the breaking of fast at the Sungai Pertang Mosque here last night.

Rais, who is an Umno supreme council member, said that the development brought by BN and Umno in the area resulted in the coalition winning the seat in the last general election.

He added that the voters in the area remained BN supporters, even more so now with the BN government’s new image under the 1Malaysia concept mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Read more Here..

Opportunist #2

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein talked up Barisan Nasional’s chances of retaining the Bagan Pinang state seat in Negeri Sembilan by pointed out today that it was an Umno stronghold that the party would defend vigorously.

The Umno vice-president’s remarks reflected the ruling party’s underlying optimism despite the undercurrent of concern over the push for former mentri besar Tan Sri Isa Samad to be the BN candidate.

Isa appears to be BN’s likely candidate and if chosen, could provide a challenge to current MB Datuk Mohamad Hassan’s position as he has the support of a majority of Umno divisions in the state.

Hishammuddin said today that BN’s biggest concern was to ensure that everything was in place and ready for the upcoming by-election.

“In the past by-elections we may have not done so well, but the previous seats were all Pakatan Rakyat strongholds, therefore it was easy for them to retain their seats. Permatang Pauh and Permatang Pasir was Pakatan-controlled from the start,” said Hishamuddin.

Who wouldn't be upbeat when the postal votes constitutes one third of the total eligible votes. Imagine 4,604 postal votes out of a total of 13,664 votes. A 80% total turnout with an assumption that the postal votes turnout of 100% is in their favor, Pakatan Rakyat would need more than 86% of the balance votes to win this seat. Even with a total voters turnout of 100%, Pakatan Rakyat still need 75% of the balance votes to win by the slimiest majority. With the presence of this chunky postal votes, the odds is against Pakatan Rakyat. Of course, unless this postal votes voting process is closely monitored.

Another question is that why is there such a huge number of postal votes for this constituent? From what I have gathered, these army camps are just recruitment camps. And why should their spouse's vote be classified as postal vote?

Despite the tough unravelled ground with the existence of postal votes and instant noodle, I believe there is still a chance for Pakatan Rakyat to pull through this one if every rightful minded citizen wakes up to fact that Umno's politics has gone from worse to worst for the past 18 months.

That would be the task of Barisan Rakyat Bloggers... to wake and to unite the people.. for the people and for the country.. to stop those in power from taking our country down beyond a trail of no return.

We are not far from there now. Think of your future.. think of your children's future..

Vote Against Evil; Vote Against Umno..