What You Need to Know

The Mahkota state by-election will be held on September 28, 2024 following the passing of its incumbent, Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain on August 2.

Sharifah Azizah, 63, passed away while receiving treatment at the Enche' Besar Hajjah Khalsom Hospital in Kluang after experiencing breathing difficulties and internal bleeding.

Mahkota is one of the two state seats in the Kluang parliamentary constituency, with the other being Mengkibol. The parliament seat is held by the unity government, with Wong Shu Qi from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) serving as Member of Parliament since 2018.

The Mahkota state seat was first contested in 2004 during the 11th General Election (GE) and was won by Barisan Nasional (BN). BN retained the seat in the 12th and 13th GEs, but lost it to Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the 14th GE in 2018.

Sharifah Azizah helped BN recapture the seat in 2022.

On September 15, the Election Commission (EC) had issued 607 postal ballots for those eligible to vote by post. There were 591 ballots issued under Category 1A (involving election workers, police, and military personnel who are on-duty during the voting period).
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Four ballots were issued under Category 1B (Malaysian citizens registered as a voter and residing abroad); two ballots under Category 1C (comprising agencies and organisations); and 10 ballots issued for Overseas Absentee Voters (PTH).

According to the EC, early voting was held on September 24 with a voter turnout of 95.45 percent.

The 14-day campaign period runs from September 14 to 11.59pm on September 27. This is the 10th by-election held after the 15th General Election (GE15) in 2022.

The EC had stated that this by-election will see a total of 66,318 voters. The figure is further broken down as below: