Hulu Selangor by-election, 2010

The Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election, which has 68,000 registered voters was being held following the death of the representative from the PKR, Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad on 25 March due to brain cancer. Previously Zainal won the Hulu Selangor seat at the 2008 general election with a slim majority of 198 votes, beating Barisan Nasional and MIC's candidate G. Palanivel. The nomination of candidates was held on 17 April 2010 and the election was held on 25 April 2010. According to election watchdog Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel), a win for Barisan Nasional in Hulu Selangor by-election will bring forward the 13th general election to an earlier date. However, this was not the case as after several other by-elections in the country, all won by Barisan Nasional, there has not been any signs of the 13th General Election.

Election issues

The government has brought up past issues such as Zaid's drinking of alcohol and his past involvement with UMNO. The opposition has brought up campaign issues such as APCO Worldwide and its ties to 1Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib's relationship with the Obama administration in the United States. Barisan candidate P. Kamalanathan's educational record was brought up by the opposition saying he had faked his Degree certificate in Communications with Edith Cowan University and Olympia College and also issues of Kamalanathan being subservient to UMNO as seen in pictures of him kissing the hand of Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Both candidates raised issues regarding the development of Hulu Selangor area, local employment and the issuance of land titles. The opposition has brought up the issue of the Election Commission relocating the voting stations for 13,000 voters in the Hulu Selangor constituency and moving some of the voters outside Hulu Selangor voting boundary. Opposition candidate Zaid had brought up issues about vote-buying during the election campaign, including government grants to Felda settlers and renovations to a Chinese school in the area.

By-Election result

P Kamalanathan got 24,997 votes beating Datuk Zaid Ibrahim who got 23,272 votes. There were 731 spoilt votes, of the total of 48,935 votes cast during the by-election.

Party Candidate Votes %
Barisan Nasional - MIC P. Kamalanathan 24,997 52.2%
Pakatan Rakyat - PKR Zaid Ibrahim 23,272 48.6%
Majority 1,725 3.6%
Turnout 47,845 76%

References