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Bongawan seat in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||
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The 1987 Bongawan by-election is a by-election for the Sabah State Legislative Assembly seat of Bongawan that were held on 19 September 1987. [1] It was called following the automatic resignation of the incumbent, Abdul Karim Abdul Ghani on 9 July 1987 after being sacked from his party. [2]
Abdul Karim Abdul Ghani, from United Sabah National Organisation (USNO), were elected to the state seat of Bongawan in the 1986 Sabah state election, defeating 5 other candidates with a 151 votes majority. He were a supreme council member of USNO.
On 9 July 1987, Abdul Karim were expelled from USNO, after he was found by the party's supreme council to be guilty of breaching party's regulation. [2] This was after he were accused of making public statements detrimental to the party. Abdul Karim were making public statements criticizing USNO and the party leader Mustapha Harun of not supporting the plan to set up United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in Sabah. [2] According to the Sabah Constitution at the time, a member of Sabah Legislative Assembly automatically resigned from his seat, if the member were sacked or resigned from the party that he/she represented when winning the seat. [2] This necessitates for by-election for the seat to be held, as the seat were vacated more that 2 years before the expiry of the state assembly current term.
In their bid to retain the seat, USNO nominated Ak Aliuddin Pg Mohd Tahir, a businessman and former member of Parliament for Kimanis from 1977 to 1981, while he were representing Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA). [3] Aliuddin also contested the seat in the 1986 state election as an independent, losing behind Karim of USNO and George Ng of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS). PBS, the current governing party of Sabah, meanwhile nominated Abdul Ghani Bidin @ Gani Bidin, a company secretary, production manager and chief engineer of state-owned Sabah Cement Sdn. Bhd. [3]
After nominations closed, it was confirmed by SPR that there will be a straight fight between PBS and USNO for the Bongawan seat. [3] Although both parties are component parties of federal coalition Barisan Nasional (BN), they were allowed to use their own party name and logo in the state election.
The key dates are listed below.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Issue of the Writ of Election | |
| 5 September 1987 | Nomination Day |
| 5-18 September 1987 | Campaigning Period |
| Early polling day for postal and overseas voters | |
| 19 September 1987 | Polling Day |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PBS | Abdul Ghani Bidin | 3,279 | 53.17 |  12.90 | ||
| USNO | Pengiran Aliuddin Pengiran Tahir | 2,835 | 45.97 | 3.33 | ||
| Total valid votes | 6,114 | 99.14 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 53 | 0.86 | ||||
| Unreturned ballots | 0 | 0.00 | ||||
| Turnout | 6,167 | 68.51 |  8.45 | |||
| Registered electors | 9,001 | |||||
| Majority | 444 | 7.20 | 4.83 | |||
| PBS gain from USNO | Swing | ? | ||||
Source(s) | ||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USNO | Abdul Karim Abdul Ghani | 2,715 | 42.64 | 3.73 | ||
| PBS | George Ng Shee Wah | 2,564 | 40.27 | 2.99 | ||
| Independent | Ak Aliuddin Pg Mohd Tahir | 689 | 10.82 | 10.82 | ||
| BERJAYA | Andrew Mudi | 149 | 2.34 | 16.61 | ||
| Independent | Chong Ah Tan @ Chong Tuck Foong | 142 | 2.23 | 2.23 | ||
| Independent | Chua Hu Thiam | 66 | 1.04 | 1.04 | ||
| Total valid votes | 6,325 | 99.34 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 42 | 0.66 | ||||
| Unreturned ballots | 0 | 0.00 | ||||
| Turnout | 6,367 | 76.96 | 2.10 | |||
| Registered electors | 8,273 | |||||
| Majority | 151 | 2.37 | 0.74 | |||
| USNO hold | Swing | |||||
Observers note that USNO's defeat in Bongawan may be caused by selection of Aliuddin as a last minute candidate, against another candidate offered by the party's local branch. [4] Supporters of sacked Karim also may boycott the by-election or supporting PBS candidate as protest against USNO's choice. [4]
