EC holds meeting to discuss Kinabatangan, Lamag by-elections

 

PUTRAJAYA: A special meeting of the Election Commission (EC) to discuss matters and important dates for the Kinabatangan parliamentary and Lamag state by-elections in Sabah is underway at Menara SPR here.

The meeting, chaired by EC chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun, began at 10am, to determine important dates for the by-election such as the date of the writ of election, nomination day, polling day and the electoral roll to be used, as well as other preparations.

Also present at the meeting were EC deputy chairman Dr Azmi Sharom and EC secretary Datuk Khairul Shahril Idrus.

The EC will hold a press conference this afternoon after the meeting.

On Dec 9, Khairul Shahril was reported to have said that EC had received the official notification from the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat Tan Sri Johari Abdul and the Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Datuk Seri Kadzim M. Yahya regarding the unexpected vacancies for the two seats following the death of the incumbent, Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin on Dec 5.

Khairul Shahril said that in accordance with Article 54 Clause (1) of the Federal Constitution and Article 21 (5) of the Sabah State Constitution which provides that unexpected vacancies of P.187 Kinabatangan parliamentary seat and N.58 Lamag state seat in Sabah, must be filled within 60 days from the date the vacancy is confirmed by EC.

Bung Moktar, 66, died in a hospital in Sabah at 1.46am, less than a week after being elected as Lamag state assemblyman for the second term.

In the 17th Sabah state election on Nov 29, the late Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman defended the Lamag state seat with a majority of 153 votes in a six-cornered contest.

At the national political level, Bung Moktar began his career as the Kinabatangan Member of Parliament after winning the seat in the 10th general election in November 1999 and continued to serve for six consecutive terms. - Bernama