The 2022 Bugaya by-election was a by-election held on 19 November 2022 for the

Sabah State Legislative Assembly The Sabah State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Sabah, Kadazandusun language, Kadazandusun: ''Langga' Tinukuan Pogun Sabah'') is a part of the legislature of Sabah, Malaysia, the other being the List of Yang di-Pertua Negeri of ...

seat of

Bugaya Muhammad Bugaya Dan Tsamiya, known as Bugaya, was a King of Kano who reigned from 1385 - 1390. Early life Muhammad was the son of Tsamiya and Maganarku. After the betrayal and subsequent murder of his father by his uncle Usman Zamnagawa, his u ...

. It was called following the death of the incumbent,

Manis Muka Mohd Darah Datin Manis Muka binti Mohd Darah (8 October 1954 – 17 November 2020) was a Malaysian politician. She was a candidate for the Sabah Heritage Party for the Bugaya State Constituency (DUN) seat. Political career She started her political care ...

on 17 November 2020. Manis Muka was a 2-term state assemblywoman first elected at the

2018 Sabah state election The 2018 Sabah state election took place on 9 May 2018 in concurrence with the 14th Malaysian general election. This election was to elect 60 members of the 15th Sabah State Legislative Assembly. The previous Assembly was dissolved on 7 April 2 ...

. She was a member of the

Sabah Heritage Party The Heritage Party ( ms, Parti Warisan or Warisan) is a multi-racial political party in Malaysia which was rebranded and renamed from the Sabah Heritage Party ( ms, Parti Warisan Sabah), a Sabah-based party led by Shafie Apdal formed earlier on ...

(WARISAN). The by-election was to be held within 60 days after the seat was declared vacant, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sabah, then Prime Minister

Muhyiddin Yassin Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mahiaddin bin Md Yasin (born 15 May 1947), commonly known as Muhyiddin bin Muhammad Yassin ( ms, محيي الدين بن محمد ياسين, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ), is a Malaysian politician who serv ...

advised the

Yang di-Pertuan Agong The Yang di-Pertuan Agong (, Jawi: ), also known as the Supreme Head of the Federation, the Paramount Ruler or simply as the Agong, and unofficially as the King of Malaysia, is the constitutional monarch and head of state of Malaysia. The of ...

to declare an emergency to postpone the by-election. The emergency proclamation was eventually revoked on 7 October 2022. The by-election was held concurrently with the

2022 Malaysian general election The 2022 Malaysian general election, formally the 15th Malaysian general election (GE15; Malay: ''Pilihan raya umum ke-15''), was held on Saturday, 19 November 2022 to elect the 222 members of the Dewan Rakyat in the 15th Parliament of Malaysia ...

and the 2022 Malaysian state elections for the state assemblies of

Pahang Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

and

Perlis Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces o ...

Nominations

Candidates for the Bugaya by-election has been set by Election Commission (EC) to be on 5 November, the same as the general election and the state election for Perak, Perlis and Pahang. After the nomination closed, 7 candidates were approved by EC: Jamil Hamzah from WARISAN, Abdul Aziz Mohd Ibno from

Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...

(BN), Zulfadzli Shi Ahmad as independent, Karil Kuraini from

Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah Sabah People's Unity Party ( ms, Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah, abbreviated: PPRS) is a Sabah-based-opposition party founded in 2017 by Mohd Arshad Abdul Mualap, a little known former teacher turn businessman-politician from Sungai Sibuga, the ...

(PPRS), Arastam Pandorog from

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the r ...

(PH), Hassan Abu Bakar from

Homeland Fighter's Party The Homeland Fighters' Party ( ms, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air, Jawi: ڤرتي ڤجواڠ تانه اير‎‎, PEJUANG) is a Malay-based political party of Malaysia, formed in August 2020 by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mo ...

(PEJUANG), and Nazmawati Walli from

Parti Bangsa Malaysia Parti Bangsa Malaysia (English: ''Malaysian Nation Party'', abbreviated PBM), is a registered centre-right political party in Malaysia. The party was founded as the Sarawak Workers Party before being handed over in November 2021. The party is c ...

(PBM). Jamil, a syariah lawyer by trade, is the WARISAN Central Youth Exco member, and the party's Semporna branch committee member. He is also the nephew of the party leader

Shafie Apdal Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie bin Apdal ( Jawi: محمد شافعي بن أفضل; born 20 October 1956) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Semporna since April 1995, State Leader of the Opposition o ...

, who announced Jamil's candidacy on 3 November. Abdul Aziz were announced as BN candidate on 2 November. A former teacher, Abdul Aziz is the

UMNO The United Malays National Organisation (Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its in ...

deputy chief for its Semporna branch. He has said that improving the basic infrastructure in the constituency would be his focus if he is elected. He also determined to resume projects under BN that were stopped after its defeat in the

, such as building a hospital in Semporna. The independent candidate, Jufazli Shi Ahmad or Zulfadzli Shi Ahmad is political activist and analyst, known for his outspoken views on Malaysian and Sabah politicians on social media such as Youtube and TikTok. He is said to be former

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left social democracy, social democratic political party in Malaysia. ...

(DAP) member (although the membership claim was disputed by DAP), and has been arrested in 2019 on charges on defamation against the Prime Minister at the time

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...

. He has contested in the 2020 state election before in the Tanjong Papat seat, losing his deposit after only gaining 553 votes. In his campaign, Zulfadzli stated he wants to help highlight the water and road in the area and improve it if he is elected. He has also cited his advantage as a local, having been born and raised in Kampung Bugaya, and also his ethnicity as a Bajau, which forms the majority in the constituency, to help him in the election. He also utilized his social media as his main campaign channel to the voters, going viral with his promises in one of his videos to build 'golden road' in the area, which he explained meant to be improving the potholed roads. Arastam, the PH candidate from its

People's Justice Party The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party. The ...

(PKR) component party, is a deep sea fish businessman by trade. The party's vice chief for its Semporna branch, Arastam were named by PKR on 31 October to contest the seat and also the federal seat of

Semporna Semporna ( ms, Pekan Semporna) is the capital of the Semporna District in the Tawau Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 35,301 in 2010. History Semporna was founded soon after the British North Borneo Char ...

. The PPRS candidate, Karil, is a former military personnel in the

Malaysian Armed Forces The Malaysian Armed Forces (: MAF; ms, Angkatan Tentera Malaysia; Jawi: ), are the armed forces of Malaysia, consists of three branches; the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The number of MAF active pers ...

. Karil has said his passion to 'defend the community' are his motivation to contest in the election. Analysts such as Dr Romzi Ationg and Dr Zaini Othman saw the by-election to be a straight fight between 2 heavyweight parties in Sabah, WARISAN and BN despite having 7 candidates in the election.

Results

Previous results

Aftermath

Jamil, the winner in the by-election, were sworn in as the new MLA for Bugaya in front of the Sabah Assembly Speaker on 25 November, at the start of the 3rd Session of the 16th Sabah Assembly sitting.

References

{{Authority control 2022 elections in Malaysia By-elections in Malaysia December 2022 events in Malaysia Elections in Sabah