by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held on 4 July 2020 for the seat of

Chini Chini ( fa, چینی, also Romanized as Chīnī; also known as Chaman Galleh) is a village in Sadat Rural District, in the Central District of Lali County, Khuzestan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, ...

in the

Pahang State Legislative Assembly The Pahang State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Pahang) is the unicameral state legislature of the Malaysian state of Pahang. It is composed of 42 members representing single-member constituencies throughout the state. The Asse ...

. The seat became vacant following the death of the incumbent

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA) from

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its in ...

(UMNO) of

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) coalition, Abu Bakar Harun on 7 May 2020 who had held the seat since

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Mohd Sharim Md Zain Mohd Sharim bin Md Zain is a Malaysian politician and currently serves as member of State Assembly for Chini. Political career He joined UMNO and served as officer to his predecessor, Abu Bakar Harun who was Chini assemblyman. He currently ...

from BN won the by-election with a 12,650 majority to retain the seat again. The

Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

(EC) had set the nomination day on 20 June 2020, early voting on 30 June and polling day for 4 July with a 14-day campaign period. Chini, one of the four state constituencies within the

Pekan Pekan Town is a town in Pekan District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is also the royal capital of the state. Its name comes from a flower, the '' Bunga Pekan''. Pekan is also the name of the district the town is situated in, and a parliamentary const ...

federal constituency which is currently held by BN's adviser and former Prime Minister

Najib Razak Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak ( ms, محمد نجيب بن عبد الرزاق, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 6th prime minister of Malaysi ...

, is a majority

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

seat with 91% Malays. There are 20,990 registered voters for the Chini by-election comprising 20,972 ordinary voters and 18 early voters. The voters comprise 10,269 men and 10,721 women. This will be the first election in the country following the 2020

political crisis Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The by-election to be conducted under the special

standard operating procedure A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance, while reducing misc ...

(SOP) imposed by EC due to the ''

New Normal A new normal is a state to which an economy, society, etc. settles following a crisis, when this differs from the situation that prevailed prior to the start of the crisis. The term has been employed in relation to World War I, the September 11 ...

'' as the country is still observing the recovery phase of

Movement Control Order Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy F ...

(MCO) for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Nominations

Secretary-General of UMNO and BN,

Annuar Musa Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Annuar bin Musa ( Jawi: أنور بن موسى; born 18 May 1956) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Minister of Communications and Multimedia in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former ...

confirmed that BN will place its candidate in the by-election and continue to work with

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) on the concept of

Muafakat Nasional The National Concord ( ms, Muafakat Nasional; abbrev: MN) was a Malaysian political coalition that was formed between the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) against the then-ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) co ...

(MN) as in the previous by-elections. UMNO also confirmed it will represent BN to defend the seat. Najib Razak's eldest son, Mohd Nizar Najib who is the Pekan UMNO Youth chief has been coined as a potential party candidate of the by-election. On 18 June, Barisan Nasional decided to nominate

, a

FELDA The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda; ms, Lembaga Kemajuan Tanah Persekutuan. LKTP) is a Malaysian government agency that was founded to handle the resettlement of rural poor into newly developed areas (''colonies'', ''settlements'' ...

resident as its candidate for the by-election.

Malaysian United Indigenous Party The Malaysian United Indigenous Party ( ms, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia), abbreviated BERSATU or PPBM, is a nationalist political party in Malaysia. The party was preceded by the United Indigenous Association of Malaysia (). It is a major c ...

(BERSATU) had also declared its full support to the chosen BN candidate who will be representing the new

Perikatan Nasional The National Alliance ( ms, Perikatan Nasional; abbrev: PN) is a political coalition composed of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN). This coalition was pr ...

(PN) government. Pekan BERSATU deputy chief, Tengku Zainul Hisham Tengku Hussin, however announced his candidacy for the by-election as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate on 18 June.

People's Justice Party 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 ...

(PKR) Secretary-general,

Saifuddin Nasution Ismail Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution bin Ismail ( Jawi: سيف الدين ناسوتيون بن اسماعيل; born 7 December 1963) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Home Affairs in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration ...

announced that

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) will not contest the by-election. Saifuddin cited that the COVID-19 pandemic may affect the safety of voters, therefore abandoning the race. Conceding the coalition's presidential council decision, PH might back independent candidate instead at the polls in order to fight against UMNO and BN. On Nomination Day, the BN candidate Mohd Sharim, alongside two independents; later-got-sacked BERSATU's Tengku Zainul (house logo) and social activist Mohd Shukri Mohd Ramli (key logo), filed their nomination papers for a three-way race for the state assembly seat.

Result

Results based on polling district

BN won all polling districts and post and early votes.

Previous result

References

{{Authority control 2020 elections in Malaysia By-elections in Malaysia Elections in Pahang July 2020 events in Malaysia