Kimanis by-election: Nomination process underway

BEAUFORT (Bernama):The nomination process for the Kimanis parliamentary by-election began at Dewan Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Dun Banir here at 9am on Saturday (Jan 4).

The weather was good this morning enabling hundreds of supporters to turn up to back their candidates.

Supporters of Parti Warisan Sabah and Barisan Nasional gathered near SMK Beaufort before marching behind their candidate to the perimeter allowed outside the nomination centre.

Several roads leading to Dewan Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Dun Banir were closed and guarded by police as early as 6am.

The candidates have up to 10am to file in their nomination papers before the returning officer, Jupari @Jupry Etok, who is also Beaufort district officer, announces the names of the candidates qualified to contest in the by-election, expected at around 11am.

Early voting is on Jan 14 and polling on Jan 18.

Pakatan Harapan ally Warisan has named Datuk Karim Bujang, 67, chief of the Kimanis Division of Warisan as its candidate while Datuk Mohamad Alamin, 48, the head of the Kimanis Division of Umno, is the choice of opposition coalition Barisan.

Some independents are also expected to join the fray.

Kimanis, which comprises the state constituencies of Bongawan and Membakut, has 29,664 voters, comprising 29,654 regular voters, nine early voters and one overseas absentee voter.

The by-election has been necessitated by the Election Court's nullification on Aug 16, 2019, of former MP Datuk Seri Anifah Aman's win in Kimanis in the 14th General Election in May 2018.

Anifah, who won the seat on a Barisan ticket, quit Umno in September 2018 to become an independent MP. He held the seat for 20 years after winning it for the first time in 1999.

The court had allowed a petition challenging the election result filed on June 18, 2018, by Karim of Warisan, who was one of the candidates for Kimanis. It had ruled that the presence of additional ballot papers had influenced the results of the polls.

On Dec 2, 2019, the Federal Court dismissed Anifah's appeal to set aside the Election Court decision nullifying his victory.

On Jan 3 this year, the Federal Court dismissed Anifah's final legal challenge to stop the by-election.

Anifah, who had been a foreign minister in the Barisan administration, had polled 11,942 votes to win by a 156-vote majority. Karim had secured 11,786 votes and a third candidate, Jaafar Ismail of Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah, had obtained 1,300 votes. - Bernama