Pengkalan Pasir, Malaysia - This sleepy corner of Malaysia's Muslim heartland, where leaders promote polygamy and even supermarket queues are segregated, has become a national test case with a by-election that could cripple the fundamentalist Islamic party.
The vote is a critical one for Kelantan, the only state that remains in the hands of the hardline Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS), and a rich prize for the National Front coalition that rules nationally and in the rest of the states.
Pengkalan Pasir's usually quiet streets, lined with shophouses and grubby stalls selling local fare, now heave with traffic jams as outsiders pour in for the December 6 by-election campaign, which officially kicked off Sunday.
PAS assembly member Wan Abdul Aziz Jaafar's death in October triggered the ballot, which is seen as a popularity test between PAS and its fundamentalist rhetoric, and the government, which promotes a moderate form of the religion.
Kelantan has been controlled by PAS since 1990, but in an appalling result in last year's general elections it came within a whisker of losing to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's UMNO-led National Front.
PAS clung on with a thin majority of 24 seats against the coalition's 21. A loss in the by-election would leave it with a majority of just one seat, which observers say will make it hard to rule effectively and pass legislation.
The two parties have gone into overdrive in the past two weeks, leaving the town shrouded in bunting and banners and villagers bewildered by a stream of party members who have gone door-to-door seeking votes.
The National Front, which sees a golden opportunity to tighten its four-decade rule over Malaysia even further, has roped in nearly the entire cabinet to take part in the campaign.
"PAS is Islam, UMNO is also Islam. The question is what sort of Islam do you want?" Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told local villagers in a campaign speech on Saturday night.
"Here, even the PAS headquarters building is not completed. This place is nothing but a cowboy town. You don't even have a drainage system," he said to shouts of approval.
"Be prepared for sweeping changes to Kelantan. What are you waiting for?"
Constituents have also been pleasantly surprised by the swift response to their requests for infrastructure improvements and the like.
"This is a good time to ask for roads, drains, streetlights, school bags, school uniforms, you name it, you'll get it," chuckles Ong E. Ching, 64, who runs a small bicycle shop in Pengkalan Pasir.
"I'd like to see more development here. If BN (National Front) wins the by-election, we'd definitely see some changes," he says as he dusts the row of bicycles in his shop, which was founded by his father, a migrant from China.
Since last year's electoral humiliation, where they also lost control of neighbouring Terengganu state, PAS has been trying to reach out to Malaysia's minority Chinese and Indian communities as part of efforts to revamp its image.
But the party, which at one point had ambitions of turning Malaysia into a strict Islamic state with laws sanctioning stoning and amputation, has been hamstrung by repeated gaffes that have alienated Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
Kelantan chief minister Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat recently caused uproar when he urged women to let their husbands practice polygamy in order to help spinsters who would otherwise become "aged virgins".
Even in the state capital Kota Bharu, which declared itself an "Islamic City" this year, all but the most daring women wear the "tudung" or headscarf that is compulsory for working women who are fined if caught showing their hair.
But across Kelantan, there are signs there is little taste for the brand of Islam promoted by PAS, and that the national government's "Islam Hadhari", which promotes scientific and economic development, could be a tempting alternative.
In supermarkets, signs order women and men to queue up separately but many pay no attention and blithely line up with the opposite sex.
"Most customers don't really follow it. And enforcement is not strict either. It's up to the customers really," said a supervisor at the Billion supermarket.
"Sometimes we queue up separately, but when the lines are too long, people don't bother," said hotel housekeeper Siti Fatimah, 38, as she paid for her groceries.
Few pundits are willing to make a prediction on the outcome of the vote, but PAS has won four out of the five by-elections in the state since 1990 and hope they can pull off victory once again.
"We are confident. We just want a free and fair election," PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa told AFP. "Even if we were to win by half a vote, we are still the government."
Political analyst Sayuti Omar, a native of Kelantan, says most voters are uninterested in religion and just want to see more prosperity in the state, which has missed out on the development that has swept the rest of peninsular Malaysia.
"Religion is no longer an issue here," he said. "That's certainly why PAS has chosen the candidate it has," he said.
PAS candidate Hanifa Ahmad is pitted against UMNO's Hanafi Mamat. Besides the similar names, the two are both businessmen, and born and bred in the constituency.
"Hanifa is a moderate, an intellectual and is not an ulama," said Sayuti.
"These voters are young, middle-class in terms of their aspirations, and they are not religious fanatics. They will choose someone who can provide them with the money, development, entertainment, sports -- everything."