Three-way contest likely in Kimanis, says Kitingan

Sabah opposition leader Jeffrey Kitingan says a decision will be made tomorrow.

KOTA KINABALU: A three-cornered contest is likely in the coming Kimanis parliamentary by-election, according to Sabah opposition leader Jeffrey Kitingan.

He said another opposition party, besides Barisan Nasional, would be likely to take part. Umno and the ruling Warisan party have already said they would contest for the seat.

BN candidate Anifah Aman won the seat at the 2018 general election, narrowly defeating Warisan challenger Karim Bujang. Karim filed an election petition alleging irregularities, with the Election Court ruling in his favour and overturning the result, causing a vacancy.

The decision was upheld by the Federal Court. However, Anifah has applied for a revision of the Federal Court decision, contending that there was bias among the bench which heard his case.

It was earlier reported that several Sabah opposition leaders were meeting Anifah to find out his plans for the impending by-election before deciding whether to contest or not. Anifah has since resigned from Umno to be an independent.

Kitingan, who is president of Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR), said he would have another meeting with Anifah, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) this week.

“We have to make a decision by tomorrow … we have to include everybody so we make only one decision.

“We are the other opposition, the third choice, other than BN. But hopefully third choice becomes the first choice,” said Kitingan, who is MP for Keningau.

SAPP president Yong Teck Lee, however, confirmed to FMT in a short text that his party will not contest for the Kimanis seat. “We are for Sabah. We are against politics and policies which are bad for Sabah. It is too early to figure out what the contesting parties stand for at Kimanis,” said the former Sabah chief minister.

PBS president Maximus Ongkili said the party was still studying sentiments on the ground.

“The appeal by Anifah is still to be heard, plus we still need to know what are his plans,” he said.

Earlier today Election Commission chairman Azhar Harun announced that Kimanis will go to the polls on Jan 18, with early voting on Jan 14.

Azhar told reporters in Putrajaya that the EC was proceeding with the by-election as no order had been received from the court either to postpone or to set aside the previous order. “So we will proceed as what is needed under the law,” he said. - FMT