Star says unlikely to contest in Batu Sapi

SANDAKAN: Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) is unlikely to contest in the Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election, slated to be held on Dec 5, said its President Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan. 

The Deputy Chief Minister, when contacted Friday, gave a brief “unlikely” reply to a question if the party would field a candidate for the by-election.

Star’s decision to opt out of the by-election came after its ally Barisan Nasional as well as the opposition Pakatan Harapan and Parti Cinta Sabah decided not to contest due to the spike in Covid-19 cases in Sabah, especially now that the Sandakan district, where the Batu Sapi constituency is located, has been categorised as a Covid-19 red zone with 459 active cases, as of Thursday.

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The Batu Sapi parliamentary seat was declared vacant following the death of its incumbent Member of Parliament Datuk Liew Vui Keong on Oct 2.

The Election Commission had also fixed nomination to be held on Nov 23 and early voting on Dec 1.

Batu Sapi has 32,962 voters, including 672 military voters and 1,138 police voters.

The by-election was triggered by the death of its incumbent from Warisan, Datuk Liew Vui Keong, due to illness on Oct 2.

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Liew had won the seat after garnering 12,976 votes against the closest contender, Datuk Linda Tsen Thau Lin, from PBS, who obtained 8,357 votes in a four-way fight during the 14th general election.

Dr Maximus

It is understood that Warisan will be defending the seat although there has been no official word from the party so far.

Meanwhile, Sabah PPBM and its Perikatan Nasional ally PBS have yet to decide on contesting the Batu Sapi by-election.

When contacted, Sabah PPBM Deputy Chief Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said his party was too preoccupied with work to think about the by-election for now.

“The party has not discussed it yet,” he told FMT.

Masidi

As for PBS, its President Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili also gave a brief reply, saying the party has also yet to decide because it is considering a number of issues, including Covid-19.

“We will announce closer to nomination day,” he said.