EC to abide by Federal Court’s ruling on Kimanis seat

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 2 — The Election Commission (EC) abides by the decision of the Federal Court in upholding the General Election Court’s decision to nullify the victory of Datuk Seri Anifah Aman in the Kimanis Parliamentary seat, Sabah in the 14th General Election (GE-14).

EC chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun said a Kimanis by-election must be held in 60 days from the date EC received the notification from the court on the decision.

A meeting to discuss important dates for the by-election must be held in not less than four days and not more than 10 days from the date of receipt of the notification, he said through the Whatsapp application.

The Federal Court today rejected Anifah’s appeal to set aside the decision of the General Election Court on August 16 that his victory in the Kimanis Parliamentary seat at GE-14 was null and void after finding additional ballot papers which could adversely affect the polling results.

Parti Warisan Sabah candidate Datuk Karim Bujang filed a petition on June 18, 2018 to challenge Anifah’s win. The latter contested on the Barisan Nasional ticket.

At GE14, Anifah, who is former Foreign Minister, won the Kimanis Parliamentary seat with a narrow 156-vote majority. He obtained 11,942 votes in a three-corner fight against Karim (11,786 votes) and Party Harapan Rakyat Sabah’s candidate, Jaafar Ismail (1,300 votes).

In the mean time, Azhar Azizan said EC would take the appropriate step to prevent the incident of non-compliance of the general election rules which could affect the result of the general election.

“Prior to this too, the General Election Academy, which is responsible for training general election workers, had been directed to emphasise on the matter.

“It must be seen that since GE1-4, there are no longer any accusations of flouting the general election rules by general election workers in nine by-elections,” he said. — Bernama