THE Kimanis parliamentary seat in Sabah is headed for a by-election, after the Federal Court today upheld the decision to call for fresh polls, Bernama reported.

The seat, was won by former Umno minister Anifah Aman in the 14th general election last year but his win was contested by Parti Warisan Sabah’s candidate Karim Bujang, citing irregularities and alleged corrupt practices.

The election court in August declared Anifah’s win null and void, and ordered a by-election, but dismissed the allegations of bribery and corruption.

The Federal Court’s five-member bench today held that the election court judge had not erred in the decision.

The bench today was led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who said there were discrepancies in conduct and non-compliance of election laws that affected the polling results.

Anifah, formerly Barisan Nasional’s foreign minister, has been a three-term MP for Kimanis.

Last year, he won the seat with a slim margin of 156 votes over Karim.

Election court judge Lee Heng Cheong in August said the ballot boxes had shown signs of manipulation, that additional voting papers were detected and the returning officer at certain polling stations had failed to provide Form 13 that was used to verify the number of ballots counted.

Anifah quit Umno in September last year. – December 2, 2019.