The Gaya parliamentary by-election in Sabah on Oct 12 will see a three-cornered fight between candidates from the ruling party, Barisan Nasional (BN), and opposition parties DAP and Keadilan.

According to national news agency Bernama , the candidates are Liew Teck Chan (BN), Hiew King Chew (DAP) and Christina Liew (Keadilan).

DAP's Hiew was the first to arrive at 9.25am at the nomination centre, Dewan Maksak. Five minutes later, BN's Liew who is also the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) vice president arrived to the cheers of some 5,000 supporters.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Sabah Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat, BN secretary-general Mohamed Rahmat and leaders of BN component parties accompanied Liew in a procession from the Sabah Trade Centre to Dewan Maksak, some 200m away.

Keadilan's Liew, who is a lawyer, filed her nomination papers later before Returning Officer Alijus Sipil. The objection period is from 11am to 12.30pm.

Yong disqualified

The Gaya seat fell vacant after Yong Teck Lee was disqualified as the Member of Parliament following the Election Court's finding last year that he committed corrupt practices during the 1999 Sabah state election.

In the 1999 general election, Yong obtained 15,315 votes, beating two other candidates with a majority of 4,117 votes.

Gaya has 49,427 voters including 76 postal voters comprising Chinese 19,122 (38.69 per cent), Non-Muslim Bumiputeras 16,463 (33.3 per cent); Muslim Bumiputeras 10,699 (21.64 per cent), Indians 394 (0.8 per cent) and others 2,749 (5.56 per cent).