Schools involved to close on Aug 26

PUTRAJAYA: Schools involved in the by-election on Aug 26 will only be closed on that day, but must turn over their premises to Election Commission workers the evening before.

EC secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor said over 20 schools will be needed for the by-election and assured that they would not be inconvenienced except for having to close on polling day, which is a Tuesday.

The by-election will be held on the second day after schools reopen following a one-week holiday beginning Aug 16, which is nomination day.

"More than 20 schools will be involved but we are still in the midst of planning logistics. They will not need to close on Monday but they must surrender their premises to the EC on Monday evening for us to make preparations," Kamaruzaman said when contacted yesterday.

He dismissed the perception that polling on a Tuesday might deter voters from casting their ballots, saying that weekday polling was nothing unusual.
"We've done it before in previous by-elections," he said.

As to why Saturday or Sunday was not selected for polling day, he said it was to fit the commission's decision of granting a 10-day campaign period.

"The commissioners decided that 10 days is sufficient based on feedback from several parties, not too long and not too short."

Seven days is the minimum campaign period under election law. Kamaruzaman said as secretary, he could only answer questions on policy and would not speculate as to the commission's reasons for choosing a weekday polling day for what is expected to be a highly-charged by-election with Parti Keadilan Rakyat de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim contesting.

Meanwhile, Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said there would be replacement classes for students in the schools affected but he would wait to get more information from the EC before deciding.

-NST