PORT DICKSON: Independent candidate Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad is confident that the majority of 13,000 Port Dickson Umno members are “white voters” who would vote for him.
As the polling day drew near, the former Teluk Kemang (now Port Dickson) Umno division head also expressed hope that voters would come out early to avoid being stuck in heavy rain.
“Umno here has about 13,000 members and most of them know me and support me. They know I’m contesting as Independent candidate and I hope they will continue to support me.
“I’m not under pressure as this is the 10th time I’m contesting in an election, but I do hope voters would come out early because it’s been raining in the evening for the past few days and that might deter them from voting,” he said after a visit to a house in Taman Politeknik here today.
Asked about Umno’s vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan’s statement which explained that the party would not stop its members from voting, Mohd Isa stressed that he wouldn’t take Mohamad’s statement seriously.
“His statement is confusing from the beginning, so I won’t bother, but I put my hope on all Umno members here who’ve known me for so long,” he said.
Mohd Isa added that he didn’t just put a target on getting his deposit back, but also on winning the by-election.
“I don’t have a special group to study my performance and position, but I have a feeling that Port Dickson people won’t disappoint me,” he said.
The Port Dickson by-election was called following the resignation of its PKR parliamentarian Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah.
Danyal Balagopal vacated the seat to pave way for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to contest in a bid to return him to Parliament.
Others vying for the seat besides Mohd Isa and Anwar are Pas' Mohd Nazari Mokhtar and four other Independent candidates; Anwar's former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Stevie Chan, Lau Seck Yan and Kan Chee Yuen.
In the 14th General Election (GE14), Danyal Balagopal won the seat with a majority of 17,710 votes, defeating Barisan Nasional's (BN) Datuk VS Mogan and Pas' Mahfuz Roslan.
The Port Dickson parliamentary constituency has 75,770 registered voters.
It was previously deemed an MIC stronghold, back when the constituency was known as Teluk Kemang. The BN coalition however lost the seat to PKR in GE12 and in the following two general elections.
Polling kicked off at 8am and is set to close at 5.30pm.