A by-election was held on 8 September 2018 for the

Selangor State Legislative Assembly The Selangor State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Negeri Selangor) is the unicameral state legislature of the Malaysian state of Selangor. The State Assembly is composed of 56 members representing single-member constituencies throughout the sta ...

seat of

Seri Setia Seri or SERI may refer to: People *Jean Michaël Seri, an Ivorian professional footballer Places *Seri Yek-e Zarruk, Iran *Seri, Bheri, Nepal *Seri, Karnali, Nepal *Seri, Mahakali, Nepal *Seri, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India Oth ...

. The seat became vacant after the sudden death of the incumbent assemblyman and Selangor state executive councillor,

Shaharuddin Badaruddin Prof. Dr. Shaharuddin Badaruddin (19 September 1962 – 2 August 2018) was a Malaysian politician. Shaharuddin was the vice president of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) ruling coalition. Shah ...

on 2 August 2018 from

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

. Shaharuddin was a member of the

Parti Keadilan Rakyat The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party. The ...

or People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the state ruling

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the r ...

(PH) coalition. This was 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. This by-election was held on the same day as the Balakong by-election. The nomination day was on 18 August 2018, with a 21-day campaigning period until election day. The by-election saw a straight fight between Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Halimey Abu Bakar from the PKR and

Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party The Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS; ms, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia; ms, ڤرتي إسلام سمليسيا, label=Jawi alphabet, Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is an Islamist political party in Malaysia. As the party focused on Islamic fundamen ...

(PAS) candidate Halimah Ali. In opposite to the Sungai Kandis and Balakong by-elections, the

Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...

(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. N32

state constituency border and the districts included within the constituency.

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 GST may refer to: Taxes * General sales tax * Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions: ** Goods and services tax (Australia) ** Goods and Services Tax (Canada) ** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong) **G ...

. A case of

negative campaigning Negative campaigning is the process of deliberately spreading negative information about someone or something to worsen the public relations, public image of the described. A colloquial, and somewhat more derogatory, term for the practice is mud ...

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.

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. PAS significantly increased its share of vote, which was credited to the fact BN not contesting the seat.

Results according to polling districts

Previous result

References

{{Malaysian elections 2018 elections in Malaysia Elections in Selangor

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...