BN Poised for Landslide Wins in Kinabatangan and Lamag By-Elections

KINABATANGAN: Barisan Nasional (BN) is on track to secure decisive victories in both the Kinabatangan parliamentary seat and the Lamag state constituency, according to unofficial vote tallies from the by-elections held on Saturday.

Preliminary counts indicate a landslide win for BN candidate Mohd Naim Kurniawan Moktar in Kinabatangan, where he garnered more than 17,000 votes in the three-cornered contest. His closest rival, Warisan’s Datuk Saddi Abdu Rahman, secured just over 5,300 votes, while independent candidate Goldam Hamid trailed far behind with fewer than 1,000 votes.

In the Lamag state seat, BN’s Mohd Ismail Ayob @ Miha also recorded a commanding performance, opening up a majority of over 4,000 votes against Warisan candidate Mazliwati Abdul Malek. She has so far obtained slightly more than 1,000 votes, with a small number of ballot boxes still pending at the time of reporting.

The Election Commission is expected to announce the official results after 10pm.

The by-elections were called following the death of the incumbent Member of Parliament and state assemblyman, Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, who passed away on Dec 5 last year at the age of 66.

Early indications suggest strong voter support for BN in what is seen as a key political battleground in Sabah.