KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili lost the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat which he tried to defend for the seventh time in the 15th General Election (GE15).
The former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) was defeated by Datuk Wetrom Bahanda of Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) who have a majority of 8,174.
Ongkili, who contested under the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) ticket, got 16,144 votes compared to Wetrom with 24,318 votes.
Also losing in the six-cornered competition for the seat was the candidate of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (PEJUANG), Mohd Azmi Zulkiflee (279 votes); Malaysian Democratic Alliance Party (MUDA) candidate, Shahrizal Denci (3,225 votes); Parti Warisan (WARISAN) candidate, Datuk Jilid Kuminding @ Zainuddin (5,320 votes) and an Independent candidate, Norman Tulang (660 votes).
The official result for the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat was the last to be announced out of the 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah following three ballot boxes from the Sungai Magandai Voting District Center (PDM) arriving at the Kota Marudu parliamentary vote tallying center at 6am this morning.
The three ballot boxes could not be sent to the vote tallying center last night due to the flood which affected the return journey of the Election Commission (SPR) staff from district polling centre.
Ongkili, who has held the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat since 1995, is the only party president in Sabah that lost in this GE15.
The other three parties are the Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) who is also Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan; The President of Pertubuhan Kinabalu Progresif Bersatu (UPKO), Datuk Seri Madius Tangau and the President of WARISAN, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal each successfully defended the Keningau, Tuaran and Semporna parliamentary seats.