KOTA KINABALU, Oct 8 — Barisan Nasional (BN) today said it will officially not contest the upcoming Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election, citing the increase in number of Covid 19 cases nationwide.
Its chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the coalition wants to do its part to ensure Covid-19 does not continue to spread the way it did during the 16th Sabah state election last month.
“We will leave it to the wisdom of the Election Commission to decide the dates for campaigning and polling.
“To us, the wellbeing and health of the people should come first,” he said.
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”.
