Sabah Polls Only 1 In 5 Winning Candidates Received More Than 50pct Votes

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Only 16 or 21.9 percent of the 73 seats in the Sabah election last weekend were won with more than half of the votes cast, mostly due to crowded contests in many constituencies.
The 17th Sabah polls saw a record 596 candidates contesting 73 seats, the highest number so far in any state election, with an average of eight candidates per seat.
Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) won 29 seats, followed by Warisan with 25, BN (six) Upko, (three), Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (two), while Pakatan Harapan, Perikatan Nasional and Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) each picked up one seat.
Five independent candidates were also elected.
The outcome allowed GRS chairperson Hajiji Noor to be sworn in as chief minister for a second term.
GRS chairperson Hajiji Noor (centre)Yet as the results were counted on Saturday night, 57 or 78 percent of all seats were won by candidates who received less than half of the votes cast in their constituency.
Of the 57 seats, 20 were won with between 49 and 40 percent of the votes cast, 29 were won with between 39 and 30 percent, and eight were won with below 30 percent. Some 19 of these seats had more than 10 candidates contesting.
BN’s Harun Durabi of Bengkoka and independent Maijol Mahap of Bandau won their seats with the lowest majorities of 20.96 percent and 22.78 percent, respectively.
Biggest vote share
The top candidates who garnered the highest winning percentages were Warisan chief Shafie Apdal, who received 79.61 percent of the votes cast in Senallang, followed by his party colleague Jaujan Sambakong with 74.7 percent in Sulabayan.
Warisan president Shafie ApdalTheir main rival, Hajiji, polled 73.63 percent of all votes in his home turf of Sulaman.
Upko president Ewon Benedick and Star chief Jeffrey Kitingan also won their constituencies, Kadamaian and Tambunan, respectively, with more than half of the votes cast.
As for parties and coalitions, 25 out of the 29 seats that GRS won were secured with less than 50 percent of the vote share.
This was followed by Warisan with 16, while out of BN's six seats, all but one - Sook - was won with less than the majority of votes.
BN’s Arthur Joseph Kurup won Sook with 57.9 percent of all ballots cast.
FPTP flaws
The fact that more than three-quarters of Sabah’s seats were won by candidates and parties who did not receive the support of the majority in a given area highlights once again the flaws of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system.
Experts have long argued that the FPTP system is unsuited for a plural society such as Malaysia with its diverse communities.
Political scientist Wong Chin Huat previously said that the FPTP system is largely supported by mono-ethnic constituencies where candidates are more likely to play to their community only. - Mkini

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