KINABATANGAN - Barisan Nasional (BN) retained the Kinabatangan parliamentary seat in the by-election there today after its candidate Mohd Kurniawan Naim Moktar secured a convincing victory with a large majority of 14,214 votes in a three-cornered contest.
The result was announced by Returning Officer Dr Eddy Syaizul Rizam Abdullah at the official vote tallying centre at Dewan Sri Lamag here last night.
Mohd Kurniawan Naim, better known as Naim Moktar, garnered 19,852 votes to defeat his two challengers - Datuk Saddi Abdul Rahman of Parti Warisan, who obtained 5,638 votes, and Independent candidate Goldam Hamid, who received 946 votes.
The Kinabatangan parliamentary by-election was held following the death of the incumbent, the late Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, 66, who was also Mohd Kurniawan Naim’s father, on Dec 5 last year.
In the 15th General Election (GE15), Bung Moktar retained the Kinabatangan parliamentary seat with a majority of 4,330 votes after defeating Warisan candidate Mazliwati Abdul Malek.
Eddy Syaizul Rizam said a total of 369 ballot papers were rejected in the by-election.
He also expressed appreciation to all parties involved in the by-election and said the democratic process proceeded smoothly without any disruption. - BERNAMA