Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah is the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Permatang Pauh

(The Star) Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah is the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat by-election.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak made the announcement in Permatang Pauh Wednesday night.

Arif Shah is the assemblyman for Seberang Jaya, which is among the three state seats under the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency.

The other two are Permatang Pasir, which was won by PAS in the March 8 general election; while PKR clinched the Penanti seat.

The Permatang Pauh seat fell vacant on July 31, when Anwar's wife and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail resigned to make way for her husband to contest.

Nomination for the by-election is Saturday while polling will be on Aug 26.

In the general election, Wan Azizah retained the seat by obtaining 30,338 votes against Datuk Pirdaus Ismail of Umno, who garnered 16,950 votes.

As at July 31, 58,459 voters, 490 of them postal, were registered as eligible to cast their ballots in the by-election.

Except for Seberang Jaya, which is a cosmopolitan centre, the rest of the constituency is made up of villages and farmland, mainly paddy fields.