PUTRAJAYA, Dec 16 — The Election Commission (EC) has fixed the date for the by-election for Kimanis parliamentary seat in Sabah on January 18, next year.
At a press conference here today, EC chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun said the nomination for the by-election will be on January 4.
The Federal Court had, on Dec 2, upheld the General Election Court’s decision to nullify the victory of Datuk Seri Anifah Aman in the Kimanis parliamentary seat in the 14th General Election (GE14).
On August 16, the Kota Kinabalu General Election Court ruled that Anifah’s victory in the Kimanis parliamentary seat at the GE14 was null and void after finding additional ballot papers which could adversely affect the polling results.
At the GE14, Anifah, who is former Foreign Minister, contested on Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket and won the seat with a narrow 156-vote majority.
He obtained 11,942 votes in a three-cornered fight against Datuk Karim Bujang of Parti Warisan Sabah Datuk Karim Bujang (11,786 votes) and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah’s candidate Jaafar Ismail (1,300 votes).
On June 18, 2018, Karim filed a petition to challenge Anifah’s victory.
Anifah resigned from UMNO, a BN’s component party in September 2018.
The Kimanis by-election is the tenth after Pakatan Harapan won the GE14 on May 9, 2018.
The last by-election was held last month for Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat, Johor.
— Bernama
