THE Kimanis by-election in Sabah will take place on January 18, the Election Commission announced today.

EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun said nomination would take place on January 4, and early voting on January 14.

He said 29,664 were registered to vote in the by-election.

He was speaking at EC headquarters in Putrajaya after a meeting to fix the dates for the poll.

The by-election is called after the Federal Court on December 2 upheld the election court ruling to nullify the victory of then Umno politician Anifah Aman in the Kimanis parliamentary seat in the general election last year.

When asked if former foreign minister Anifah might be filing for a revision, Azhar said the EC will continue to follow the court ruling.  

“We will follow the court ruling until it (ruling) is suspended or set aside by the court. 

“So far there are no such orders. We will take action as with any orders from the court.”

Following the Federal Court decision, Anifah’s lead counsel Tengku Ahmad Fuad had on December 9 reportedly said that his client will be filing an application for a revision.

Azhar also said that EC will be spending RM3.6 million for the by-election.

He said that the EC will be deploying 653 officers, while there will be 20 voting centres with 69 voting streams. – December 16, 2019.