Danyal Balagopal resigned his seat to pave a way for PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim to return to Parliament, it was dubbed as the 'PD Move'.

[3] Anwar was unable to contest the earlier GE14 due to his imprisonment on sodomy charges, which were widely accepted as politically motivated.

He received a royal pardon after PH defeated the then-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and came into power, restoring his political rights and his eligibility to contest in elections.

[6] This was repudiated by prominent PH leaders such as Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

[13] Close to the nomination day, the field became more crowded with the surprise entry of two independent candidates, namely Mohd Isa Abdul Samad the former Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan and Saiful Bukhari Azlan the former personal aide of Anwar who was also the accuser in his second sodomy trial.

[14][15] The other independent candidates contested were social media activist Stevie Chan Keng Leong, former lecturer Lau Seck Yan and management consultant Kan Chee Yuen.

[14][18] PRM eventually sacked its designated candidate, Ahmad Kamarudin, an ex-PKR member for withdrawing from the by-election claiming insufficient funds for the electoral deposit only at the eleventh hour.

[19] A voter in Port Dickson, Rosmadi Mohd Kassim filed a judicial review at the High Court on 27 September 2018, seeking the court to declare that the resignation of incumbent MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah unconstitutional, thus rendering the move by Election Commission (EC) to hold the by-election as null and void.

[23] EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun affirmed the agency's stand that Anwar was free and eligible to contest and proceed in the by-election.

[25] On 8 October 2018, Mahathir Mohamad broke a prime ministerial tradition by coming to Port Dickson to campaign in the by-election.