KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — The Election Commission (EC) has been officially notified that the 15th Sabah State Assembly was dissolved and will begin preparations for an early state election there.
EC secretary Ikmalrudin Ishak said the commission will meet soon to decide matters related to the election that must be held within 60 days from yesterday based on Article 21(4) of the Sabah Constitution.
“As such, EC will convene a special meeting to discuss the implementation of the election.
“The date of the meeting will be announced by EC later,” he said in a statement today.
Yesterday, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal announced that Tuan Yang Terutama Tun Juhar Mahiruddin has consented to the dissolution to pave way for a state election.
Shafie’s administration had been besieged by predecessor Tan Sri Musa Aman, who had tried to seize control of the Sabah government through defections.
Musa attempted to meet Juhar yesterday to try and convince the latter to reconsider the dissolution but was turned away at the gates of the state palace.
He demonstrated that he had 33 assemblymen on his side who represented the simple majority needed to control the state.
However, the dissolution has already been gazetted and the EC’s announcement today further cemented the matter.
As EC’s redelineation exercise that added 13 state seats was approved in Parliament last year, the Sabah election will be for 73 seats instead of the 60 that were contested in 2018.
