Avila Geraldine, Olivia Miwil

BEAUFORT: Barisan Nasional (BN) defended its stronghold Kimanis seat with a 2,029 majority vote against Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) in the parliamentary by-election, on Saturday.

Election Commission (EC) returning officer Jupari @ Jupry Etok announced BN’s Datuk Mohamad Alamin as winner of the poll after he obtained a total of 12,706 votes.

The official results were announced at the ballot tallying centre at Dewan Datuk Seri Mohd Dun Banir here.

Warisan candidate Datuk Karim Bujang, who is a former five-term Bongawan assemblyman, polled 10,677 votes.

There were 360 spoilt votes.

The by-election was his second attempt to capture the Kimanis seat.

In the 14th general election (GE14), Karim contested the constituency against former Umno leader Datuk Seri Anifah Aman in a three-cornered fight.

Anifah, who is now an independent, retained his seat with a 156-vote majority, after securing 11,942 votes against Karim’s 11,786 votes.

The third candidate, Jaafar Ismail of Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah, obtained 1,300 votes.

Following the GE14 result, Karim filed a petition challenging Anifah’s win in June 2018.

The by-election was held after the Federal Court, on Dec 1, upheld the Special Election Court’s decision in August last year nullifying Anifah’s victory.