PETALING JAYA: A by-election will be conducted in Kimanis within the next 60 days, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Mohd Ariff Yusof has confirmed (pic).
Ariff said in a statement Monday (Dec 9) that he had received a notice from the Election Commission (EC) regarding the vacancy in the seat following a ruling by the Federal Court to uphold the Election Court’s decision to declare the Kimanis election result as “null and void”.
On Dec 2, the Federal Court upheld the Election Court’s ruling nullifying Datuk Seri Anifah Aman’s victory in the Kimanis parliamentary seat.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat unanimously dismissed Anifah’s appeal to set aside the Election Court ruling.
The Federal Court found discrepancies in the conduct of the election process and widespread non-compliance of election laws, which had affected the outcome of the polls.
On Aug 16, the Election Court had declared null and void Anifah’s win in the Kimanis seat in Sabah in the 14th General Election (GE14) after Parti Warisan Sabah candidate Karim filed the petition on June 18 last year to challenge the election result of the elections which Anifah won by a 156 vote majority.
On Feb 18, the Federal Court five-man bench led by Wong, remitted Karim’s election petition back to the Election Court for trial after allowing his appeal to set aside the Election Court’s earlier decision to strike out his (Karim’s) petition.
On Nov 19,2018, Election Court judge Supang Lian struck out Karim’s election petition.
The matter was then remitted back for trial before another Election Court Judge Lee Heng Chung, who subsequently nullified the results for that constituency, ruling that the presence of additional ballot papers had influenced the results of the polls. -The Star