2026 Lamag by-election
24 January 2026
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N58 Lamag seat in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||
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A by-election in Lamag is scheduled to be held on 24 January 2026 for the Sabah State Legislative Assembly seat of Lamag. It was called following the death of Bung Moktar Radin on 5 December 2025.[1] Bung served as the Lamag MLA from 2020. The by-election is held concurrently with the 2026 Kinabatangan by-election, the federal seat Bung held.
The election is the first by-election since the 2025 Sabah state election which was held on 29 November 2025, only 6 days before Bung's death.[2] Bung defended the seat and was reelected as the Lamag MLA after very narrowly defeating independent candidate Mohd Ismail Ayub, Johainizamshah Johari of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), Saifulah Lokman of the Heritage Party (WARISAN), Mazlin Madali of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Salahuddin Anoi of the Parti Impian Sabah (PIS) by a majority of only 153 votes.[3]
Background
Lamag is a Muslim Bumiputera-majority seat comprising predominantly 86.0% of the overall voters, followed by 13.6% non-Muslim Bumiputera and 0.40% Chinese.
Bung Moktar died on 5 December 2025 at Kota Kinabalu Gleneagles Hospital, after being hospitalized for kidney failure and a lung infection.[4]
Nomination
BN is expected to nominate a candidate to contest the by-election and defend the seat.
Gabungan Rakyat Sabah announced it would not contest the seat out of respect for Bung.[5] Perikatan Nasional similarly also decided not to contest both the Kinabatangan and Lamag seats.[6]
Timeline
The key dates are listed below.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 5 December 2025 | Bung Moktar Radin died in office as the Lamag MLA |
| 16 December 2025 | Issue of the Writ of Election |
| 10 January 2026 | Nomination Day |
| 10 - 23 January 2026 | Campaigning Period |
| 20 January 2026 | Early Polling Day For Postal, Overseas and Advance Voters |
| 24 January 2026 | Polling Day |
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BN | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||
| Heritage | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||
| Total valid votes | TBA | 100.00 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | TBA | |||||
| Unreturned ballots | TBA | |||||
| Turnout | TBA | TBA | ||||
| Registered electors | ||||||
| Majority | TBA | |||||
Previous results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BN | Bung Moktar Radin | 3,908 | 39.14 | 13.42 | ||
| Independent | Mohd Ismail Ayob | 3,755 | 37.61 | 37.61 | ||
| GRS | Johainizamshah Johari | 1,646 | 16.49 | 16.49 | ||
| Heritage | Mohd Saifulah Lokman | 372 | 3.73 | 37.39 | ||
| PN | Mazlin Madali | 258 | 2.58 | 2.58 | ||
| Sabah Dream Party | Salahuddin Anoi | 45 | 0.45 | 0.45 | ||
| Total valid votes | 9,984 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 129 | |||||
| Unreturned ballots | 8 | |||||
| Turnout | 10,121 | 73.03 | 2.26 | |||
| Registered electors | 13,859 | |||||
| Majority | 153 | 1.53 | 9.91 | |||
| BN hold | Swing | |||||
Source(s) | ||||||
Notes
References
- ^ Sabah BN chairman Bung passes away
- ^ "Malaysia's BN leader Bung Moktar dies of illness, days after retaining seat in Sabah election". The Straits Times. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
- ^ "Bung Moktar retains Lamag seat in Sabah state election". The Sun. 30 November 2025. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
- ^ "Bung Moktar hospitalised with kidney failure and severe lung infection - Jafry". New Straits Times. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
- ^ Chan, Julia (16 December 2025). "GRS unlikely to contest Kinabatangan, Lamag by‑elections out of respect for Bung Moktar, says Hajiji". The Malay Mail. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
- ^ Mahsinah Abdullah, Sharifah (10 December 2025). "PN to sit out Kinabatangan, Lamag by-elections in Sabah". New Straits Times. Retrieved 20 December 2025.