Umno to contest Kimanis by-election, says Zahid

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

KUALA LUMPUR: Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the Barisan Nasional will be fielding an Umno candidate in the Kimanis by-election, but he did not name anyone.

In launching the Umno Encyclopedia, the party president said it was a must for Umno to compete in the by-election as the seat traditionally belonged to the party.

“We’re going to field our candidate for the Kimanis by-election because the seat is ours. It originally belonged to Umno.

“How can I announce it now?” he laughed when asked later by reporters for the name of the likely candidate.

Yesterday, Warisan president Shafie Apdal hinted that a Warisan candidate would be vying for the seat, although he maintained that a meeting would be held with the party’s coalition partners before any decision was made.

The Sabah chief minister said this was because a Warisan candidate had contested the seat in the 14th general election (GE14) last year.

The Kimanis seat was vacated after the Federal Court upheld the Aug 16 decision of the election court which declared the victory of former foreign minister Anifah Aman in GE14 null and void.

The election court had agreed with the petitioner, Warisan’s Karim Bujang, that there was misconduct on the part of the Election Commission in handling Forms 13 and 14 which affected some 341 ballots.

The court, however, cleared Anifah of corruption or bribery allegations. - FMT