Anifah Aman loses Kimanis seat

Small margin: Anifah (left) secured 11, 942 votes while Karim obtained 11, 786 votes at the general election.

KOTA KINABALU: A by-election is looming for the Kimanis parliamentary seat with the Election Court declaring as null and void its results in the 14th General Election.

Justice Lee Heng Chee found serious breaches in the conduct of the election process with over 300 votes improperly cast, an offence under Section 32(b) of the Election Offences Act.

The court found that 284 additional ballots were improperly cast at Kampung Brunei polling station’s Stream 1, with 57 additional ballots found to be improperly added at SJK Cheng Meng.

The judge ruled yesterday that this affected the election results.

He, however, dismissed allegations of bribery and corrupt practices against the winner Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, who contested the seat as an Umno candidate under the Barisan Nasional ticket, citing insufficient evidence.

Election Commission (EC) chairman Azhar Azizan Harun said the EC would wait for the 14-day appeal grace period to be over before deciding on its next course of action.

“As the parties involved have the right to appeal, a by-election can only be held if there is no appeal or the appeal process at the Federal Court has been completed.

“Under the law, the EC has to fill the vacant seat within 60 days from the date the vacancy has been confirmed, ” he said in a statement.

One of Anifah’s lawyers, Tengku Fuad Ahmad, said the former foreign minister, who had since quit Umno to become an independent MP, had instructed them to appeal.

“We feel that the judge has made a number of reversible errors in his findings, especially since we don’t know whether the additional votes were in favour of Anifah or Datuk Karim Bujang.

“To satisfy Section 32(b), you must show that Karim would have won without the additional votes. We will take this further on appeal, ” he said when contacted.

He said Anifah had the right to appeal although the court’s decision was against the EC as it affected his position as MP.

Karim, the Parti Warisan Sabah candidate, who lost to Anifah by 156 votes, challenged the Kimanis results.

Karim filed the petition on June 18, challenging the official results which had Anifah securing 11, 942 votes against his 11, 786 votes.

In his petition, Karim also alleged that Anifah had violated Section 32A (general bribery, treating or intimidation) and 32C (corrupt or illegal practice by the election candidate or their agent) of the Election Offences Act.

The Election Court had dismissed the petition last Oct 16, but the Federal Court overturned the decision and remitted it to the court for trial.

When contacted, Karim said that he felt vindicated by the decision of the Election Court.

Anifah, who is the younger brother of former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman, was first elected Beaufort MP in 1999. The Kimanis seat was created in 2004.