KUCHING, 16 March 2009: The Sarawak Election Commission (EC) will be conducting a briefing for 201 personnel in Lubok Antu from 31 March to 1 April in preparation for the Batang Ai state by-election.
Its director, Takun Sunggah, said the Lubok Antu bazaar, an administrative district centre, about four hours’ drive from here, would be the venue for the nomination of candidates on 29 March, and the counting of votes in the event of a contest on 7 April.
So far, only one individual has collected nomination forms from the EC office here, he told Bernama today.
The seat fell vacant, following the death of incumbent Datuk Dublin Unting Ingkot — the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) vice-president and state assistant minister for sports and agriculture — on 24 Feb.
A RM400,000 allocation has been approved for the by-election for which 24 polling centres will be opened, with the deployment of 25 four-wheel-drive vehicles, 18 boats and a police helicopter.
Ibans account for 95% of the 8,006 registered voters in Batang Ai which borders the Indonesian province of Kalimantan.
