Two By-Elections To Be Held

PETALING JAYA - By-elections for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seats will be held following the helicopter crash in Sarawak on Thursday which claimed the lives of the two MPs representing the constituencies.

Datuk Noriah Kasnon (Sungai Besar) and Kuala Kangsar's Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad were killed with four others in the tragedy.

Noriah, who is also the deputy minister of plantation industries and commodities,was elected to the Sungai Besar seat in the 2013 general election with a majority of 399 votes over Mohamed Salleh M. Husin of PAS.

Khair-il won in Kuala Kangsar with a majority of 1,082 votes against independent candidate Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim.

All 222 Parliamentarian who won in the 13th General Election were sworn in during the first term of the 13th parliament sitting held on June 24, 2013.

The Federal Constitution states that a by-elections must be held to fill a casual vacancy within the first three years of the term of the current Parliament.

A vacancy must be declared by the Speaker to the Election Commission.