“The Prime Minister has agreed to appoint Datuk Seri Musa Aman as the elections director for the Batu Sapi by-election,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
It is understood that Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan has been appointed as deputy elections director.
“We will be announcing the candidates for both the Galas and the Batu Sapi by-elections on October 24, simultaneously in two different places,” said Muhyiddin.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Umno candidate for the Galas state seat will be decided in a day or two.
"We will announce the candidate for Umno as the same time for the candidate in Sabah, which will be a PBS candidate," added Muhyiddin.
Sabah’s Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election is set for November 4, on the same day as Kelantan’s Galas vote.
They’ll also share nomination day — October 26.
The Batu Sapi by-election was triggered by the death of two-term lawmaker Datuk Edmund Chong Ket Wah in an accident in Kota Kinabalu last week.
Chong, 54, was riding a Kawasaki 750 bike along the Sembulan-Tanjung Aru road when he was involved in a crash with an oncoming Mercedez Benz car at about 11.40am.
Batu Sapi is a new seat that was created following a re-delineation exercise and was first contested in 2004.
It is also divided into two state seats, Sekong and Karamunting.
The racial breakdown of Sekong voters is as follows: 2,366 Chinese (21 per cent), 6,031 Sabah bumiputeras (53 per cent), 2,167 Malay (19 per cent), 676 others (6 per cent), 41 Sarawak bumiputeras (0.36 per cent), 37 Indian (0.33 per cent) and three Orang Asli (0.03 per cent).
In Karamunting, the breakdown is the following: 9,546 Chinese (37 per cent, 9,565 Sabah bumiputeras (37 per cent, 5,000 Malays (20 per cent), 1,213 Others (5 per cent), 92 Indians (0.36 per cent), 158 Sarawak bumiputeras (0.62 per cent) and eight Orang Asli (0.03 per cent).
Chong, from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), won the seat uncontested in that year and successfully saw off independent challenger Chung Kwong Win by a margin of 3,708 votes in Election 2008.
