Sandakan by-election kicks off today with nomination day

SANDAKAN POLLS | Today is nomination day for the Sandakan parliamentary by-election.

So far, two main contenders are expected to be fielded by DAP and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), respectively.

DAP will be fielding 30-year-old Vivian Wong Shir Yee, the youngest daughter of the late Sandakan incumbent MP Stephen Wong.

Vivian was previously her father’s special officer.

Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal has said Warisan, Upko and Pakatan Harapan would fully support Vivian.

Although not Harapan members, Warisan and Upko collaborate with the coalition at both the state and federal government level.

Meanwhile, PBS will be fielding former Batu Sapi MP Linda Tsen, 64, in this by-election.

The party had said they were hoping to capitalise on Tsen’s experience in the coming polls.

Tsen, a two-term MP, won the Batu Sapi seat in a by-election in 2010 after her husband and the then incumbent lawmaker Edmund Chong was killed in an accident.

The Batu Sapi parliamentary seat is adjacent to the Sandakan seat.

Although BN has stated that it will sit out this by-election, Sabah Umno chairperson Bung Moktar Radin stated Umno will back the PBS candidate.

The polls were triggered by the death of Wong, the two-term lawmaker, from a heart attack last month.

Wong, who was also formerly the Sabah health and people’s wellbeing minister, won the seat with a comfortable 10,098-vote majority over Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) Lim Ming Ho. The LDP was then a component party of BN.

There are 39,777 voters in Sandakan, with 51 percent Chinese voters, 26 percent Sabah bumiputera, 16 percent Malays and 7 percent others.

Polling day for Sandakan is slated for May 11. - Mkini