KOTA KINABALU: The High Court has postponed the mention of the Sipitang parliamentary seat election petition to March 8.
The mention was previously fixed for today with the proceeding to be heard by Judge Azhahari Kamal Ramli.
Sipitang member of parliament (MP) Yamani Hafez Musa's counsel Azhier Farhan Arisin said that the new date was set as the judge had a personal emergency today.
"We have obtained March 8 for case management and to fix for trial date.
"The proceeding will be heard at 9am," he told reporters at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex, here, this morning.
On Oct 15, 2018, the Election Court here struck out a petition filed by Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) candidate Noor Hayaty Mustapha to nullify the results of the Sipitang parliamentary seat in the 14th General Election (GE14) won by Yamani, who is also the son of former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman.
However, the Putrajaya Federal Court ordered the election petition filed by Noor Hayaty to be remitted to the Election Court for trial.
In the GE14, Yamani won the Sipitang parliamentary seat under the Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket with a 852-vote majority, defeating his rivals from Warisan and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah.
Meanwhile, Yamani's uncle Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, who is also Kimanis MP, would have his election petition proceeding heard by High Court judge Datuk Lee Heng Cheong at 2pm today.
On Nov 19 last year, the Election Court here struck out Warisan candidate Datuk Karim Bujang’s election petition against Anifah, the Election Commission (EC) and the EC returning officer after allowing Anifah’s application to strike out the petition.
The Federal Court in Putrajaya also remitted two election petitions filed by Warisan candidates for the Kimanis seat to the Election Court for trial.
In the last general election, Anifah won the Kimanis constituency with a 156-vote majority in a three-cornered fight, securing 11,942 votes against Karim and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah’s Jaafar Ismail, who garnered 11,786 votes and 1,300 votes respectively.