Umno can win Kimanis should polls take place, says veteran

Umno is being urged to contest the Kimanis parliamentary seat in Sabah in the event of a by-election following the court verdict overturning Anifah Aman's victory in the 14th general election.

Umno Veterans Club secretary-general Mustapha Yaakub said the seat was a traditional Umno stronghold.

"Umno has to contest. That area belongs to Umno and BN. Anifah won by 156 votes on the Umno/BN ticket. Some say it's an Anifah stronghold, but I say he won because of Umno's strength," Mustapha told Malaysiakini today.

Anifah won the seat but subsequently quit Umno in September 2018.

Yesterday, the Kota Kinabalu Election Court declared the former foreign affairs minister victory during the last general election null and void.

Judge Lee Heng Cheong said the decision was made after a re-examination of the ballot boxes found that there were elements of manipulation including the unauthorised addition of ballot papers in violation of election laws.

Lee thus ordered that the Election Commission pay the petitioner Karim Bujang of Parti Warisan Sabah RM100,000 in costs.

Anifah (below) won the Kimanis parliamentary seat by a majority of 156 votes in a three-way contest after securing 11,942 votes against Karim and Jaafar Ismail who received 11,786 votes and 1,300 votes respectively.

EC chairperson Azhar Azizan Harun said the EC would have to wait for the referral of the Supreme Court decision or up to 14 days for an appeal to be finalised for further action on the Kimanis parliamentary seat.

Mustapha said Umno had a good chance of winning the seat as it was a Malay majority seat

The Kimanis parliamentary seat, he said, was different from the Sandakan seat in which the majority of the voters are Chinese.

"Unlike Sandakan which has a majority of Chinese voters, Kimanis has a majority of Malay voters and Muslim bumiputera voters.

"So there is a good opportunity for Umno and BN to win, especially in the current political situation," he said. - Mkini