Voter turnout in Kimanis at 70.20% as at 3pm, surpasses target set by EC

BEAUFORT: The voter turnout for Kimanis by-election reached 70.20% as at 3pm on Saturday (Jan 18), surpassing the Election Commission's initial target of 70%.

The favourable weather on polling day, with most areas being sunny, seems to have encouraged voters to come out in droves.

Polling at 68 voting streams in 19 polling districts ends at 5pm, where 29,619 constituents are eligible to cast their votes on Saturday out of the total registered 29,664.

The Kimanis by-election is a straight fight between Parti Warisan Sabah's Datuk Karim Bujang and Barisan Nasional's Datuk Mohamad Alamin, with incumbent former Umno MP Datuk Seri Anifah Aman staying out of the race after holding the seat since 1990.

There are 29,644 voters in Kimanis, comprising 42% Muslim bumiputras, 41% non-Muslim bumiputras and 6% Chinese and the parliamentary constituency is made up of two state seats, Membakut and Bongawan.

The Kimanis seat was declared vacant after the Federal Court on Dec 2 upheld the Election Court's ruling, nullifying former foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman's victory in the 14th General Election in May 2018.

Anifah had won the seat with a 156-vote majority, securing 11,942 votes against Karim's 11,786 votes while another candidate, Jaafar Ismail of Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah, had obtained 1,300 votes.