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THE Election Commission has officially announced that polling for the parliamentary by-election in Kinabatangan and the state by-election in Lamag, Sabah, will be held on 24 January 2026.
The nomination day has been scheduled for 10 January, while early voting is set for 20 January, said Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun (pic) at a press conference held in Putrajaya today.
He added that applications for all categories of postal voting, both domestic and overseas, opened immediately.
The announcement follows a special EC meeting at Menara SPR in Putrajaya, chaired by Ramlan, to finalise critical dates and preparations for the by-elections.
Also present were EC deputy chairman Dr Azmi Sharom and EC secretary Datuk Khairul Shahril Idrus.
Khairul confirmed that the EC received formal notifications from the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Tan Sri Johari Abdul, and the Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly, Datuk Seri Kadzim M. Yahya, regarding the sudden vacancies for the two seats following the death of incumbent Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin on 5 December.
“In accordance with Article 54 Clause (1) of the Federal Constitution and Article 21 (5) of the Sabah State Constitution, unexpected vacancies of the P.187 Kinabatangan parliamentary seat and N.58 Lamag state seat must be filled within 60 days from the date the vacancy is confirmed by the EC,” Khairul Shahril explained.
Bung Moktar, 66, passed away at a hospital in Sabah at 1.46am on 5 December, less than a week after securing a second term as Lamag state assemblyman in the 17th Sabah general election on 29 November.
He had defended the Lamag seat with a narrow majority of 153 votes in a six-cornered contest.
At the national level, Bung Moktar had represented Kinabatangan in Parliament since first winning the seat in the 10th general election in 1999, serving six consecutive terms and establishing a long political career as Sabah Barisan Nasional chairman. - December 16, 2025