Kimanis by-election: Unofficial early counts put Barisan ahead
BEAUFORT, Jan 18 — Early unofficial results have put Barisan Nasional (BN) in the lead to take the Kimanis parliamentary seat as of 6.30pm.
BN’s Datuk Mohamad Alamin has polled 5,311 votes to Parti Warisan Sabah’s Datuk Karim Bujang 4,601 votes.
The tally from the Election Commission has indicated results from 33 out of 70 ballot boxes from all polling districts and postal and early voting.
It’s still a close race with more than half the ballot boxes to go in the 29,664 constituency.
Voter turnout today exceeded the EC’s target of 70 per cent to 76 per cent at 4pm.
Last night, an MCA-linked think-tank said the Kimanis by-election was too close to call, but predicted a win for Mohamad against Karim Bujang.
Strategic Analysis and Policy Research Institute (Insap) deputy chairman Pamela Yong said their survey indicated Mohamad had the bigger support from the Muslim and non-Muslim Bumiputeras.
The Kimanis seat was declared vacant after the Federal Court on December 2 upheld the Election Court’s ruling, nullifying former foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman’s victory in the 14th General Election (GE14) in May 2018.
In GE14, Anifah won the seat with a 156-vote majority, securing 11,942 votes against Karim’s 11,786 votes while another candidate, Jaafar Ismail of Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah, obtained 1,300 votes.
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