KINABATANGAN: Barisan Nasional thumbed its way into a major win to retain its bastions in Kinabatangan and Lamag, both of which were held by its former strongman, the late Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.
Mohd Naim Kurniawan Moktar pulled off a stunning 14,214-vote super majority to keep his father’s Kinabatangan seat safely in Barisan-Umno stables, while Mohd Ismail Ayob@Miha won the Lamag seat with a comfortable majority of 5,681 votes.
Mohd Naim Kurniawan secured 19,852 votes with his closest rival, Warisan’s Datuk Saddi Abdul Rahman coming a distant second with 5,638 votes, while independent Goldam Hamid lost his deposit at 946 votes.
Miha, who only two months ago narrowly missed his bid to topple Bung Moktar in the November state election, secured 7,269 votes against his lone opponent, Warisan’s Mazliwati Abdul Malek, who got 1,588 votes.
Returning officer Eddy Syaizul Rizam Abdullah announced the official results at around 10.10pm.
The Election Commission said there was about 64% turnout, lower than the Nov 29 state election’s 65% turnout last year.
For Kinabatangan, a total of 54.6% of the 48,722 registered voters turned up while Lamag, with 13,899 registered voters, recorded a similar 55% turnout.
The Kinabatangan and Lamag by-elections were triggered following its incumbent’s death on Dec 5.
In the last state election, the late Bung Moktar won with a total of 153 majority against Miha, who contested as an independent in the six-corner Lamag seat.
Barisan picked Miha to contest for the seat with the blessing of its Gabungan Rakyat Sabah and other partners.
In the 2022 General Election, Bung Moktar beat his sole opponent Mazliwati with a 4,330 majority for the Kinabatangan parliamentary seat.
The two seats were left vacant recently after Bung Moktar passed away.
Bung Moktar died days after his victory in the last state election.
He was admitted to a private hospital for severe lung infection.
But his health condition took a turn for the worse with kidney complications before he succumbed to the illness.
