The nomination process will begin at 9am and the potential candidates will be given an hour to submit their nomination forms.

Returning officer Khairulnizam Hashim is expected to announce the names of candidates who are eligible to contest at about 11am.

According to the Election Commission (EC), six sets of nomination forms had already been sold as of yesterday.

The EC has set July 6 as polling day for the by-election, with early voting on July 2. The 14-day campaign period will begin today until 11.59pm on July 5.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) has named PKR’s Joohari Ariffin as its candidate while Abidin Ismail of PAS will be contesting for Perikatan Nasional (PN). Abidin is a former aide to the Sungai Bakap assemblyman, Nor Zamri Latiff, whose death on May 24 caused the state seat to fall vacant.

The electoral roll for Sungai Bakap contains 39,279 voters, consisting of 39,222 regular voters and 57 police officers.

A total of 522 election workers have been appointed to manage the by-election process, while over 600 police officers will be deployed to ensure security.

In the Penang state election last August, the late Nor Zamri, who was also Nibong Tebal PAS chief, defeated PH candidate Nurhidayah Che Rose with a majority of 1,563 votes, in a straight fight.

The Sungai Bakap by-election is the eighth to be held after the 15th general election (GE15) in November 2022.