KOTA KINABALU, Oct 8 — Local-based Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) is the second party to declare it would not contest the Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election after Barisan Nasional (BN).
Like BN, PCS secretary-general Ansari Abdullah said the decision was made to prevent straining the state further after it had been struck by the Covid-19 virus.
“Sabah is now facing the deadly outbreak and it’s clear that the SOP issued by the Health authorities for the state election was not enough to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Sabah cannot afford to go through another wave of the virus brought around by another round of campaigning for a by-election,” said Ansari in a statement today.
PCS, helmed by former federal foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, fielded candidates in all 73 state seats in the September 27 election but failed to win a single one.
The Election Commission is due to meet on October 13 and will announce the dates on that day.
The Batu Sapi by-election will have to be held within 60 days of the seat being vacated.
It was vacated on October 2 with the death of the incumbent MP Datuk VK Liew from Parti Warisan Sabah, who succumbed to a lung infection.
In the 2018 general election, Parti Bersatu Sabah, then running on a BN ticket lost to Liew.
Other candidates were Hamza Abdullah from Amanah and PAS’s Norsah Bongsu.
The recently concluded Sabah state elections from September 12 to September 26 saw a huge spike in Covid-19 cases, many from individuals who had a travel history to Sabah during the election period.
Sabah topped the list of new cases nationwide today at 271, five new Covid-19 deaths were also recorded all in the state, raising the national tally lost to the virus to 146.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has dubbed the current outbreak as the “third wave”.
