The Pahang state government has declared May 5 a state public holiday to enable registered voters in the Rompin parliamentary constituency to cast their votes on the day.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, in a brief statement to the media, said the matter was decided at the executive council meeting held at the Rompin District Council here today.

The Rompin by-election will see a straight fight between Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Hasan Arifin and Nazri Ahmad from PAS.

The by-election is being held following the death of incumbent Tan Sri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis who died in a helicopter crash in Semenyih, Selangor on April 4.

In the last general election, Jamaluddin, who was also chairman of the 1Malaysia People's Housing (PR1MA) scheme retained the seat he had held for 23 years after defeating former PAS Central Women's chief Nuridah Mohd Salleh with a 15,114 vote-majority.

According to Election Commission (EC) records, there are 53,294 registered voters in Rompin including 545 early voters who will cast their votes tomorrow at four early polling stations.