Barisan Nasional tonight retained the Gaya parliamentary seat by a wide majority of 11,923 votes, while DAP and Keadilan came trailing in at a distant second and third respectively.

BN's Liew Teck Chan garnered 15,639 votes to defeat DAP's Dr Hiew King Cheu and Keadilan's Christina Liew who secured 3,716 votes and 2,613 votes respectively. There were 132 spoilt votes.

The results were announced at 9.00 pm at the Dewan MKSAK in Kota Kinabalu.

However, voter turnout was a dismal 44.38 percent of the 49,427 registered voters, the lowest ever recorded for a by-election. A total of 22,100 votes were cast.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi arrived early at Dewan MKSAK, and was jubilant over Liew's strong victory. He was accompanied by Liew, Sabah Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat, Umno secretary general Khalil Yaakob and other state and national BN leaders.

Addressing the gathering at the dewan after the results were announced, Abdullah said he was pleased that the BN won more than 70 percent of total votes cast.

"We are very happy that we won in all the polling stations. We have also scored a much higher overall majority," he said.

Kadazandusun votes to BN

Met earlier, Christina Liew expressed disappointment at the results. However, she said that Keadilan would not despair as "it is not a seasonal party that works only during elections but will continue to struggle for the people of Sabah."

DAP's Hiew was not present at the tally centre.

A visibly happy Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Joseph Pairin Kitingan told reporters that he was very pleased with the results as it showed that the Kadazandusun community supported BN.

During the campaign, PBS was under constant pressure as it was expected to deliver the Kadazandusun votes to the BN since its stronghold, Inanam, is one of the two state seats in the Gaya parliamentary constituency. Pairin and the PBS apparently did deliver.

BN improved on its performance compared to the 1999 general elections as it secured a higher number of votes, despite a lower voter turnout.

In 1999, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee won the seat with only a 4,117 majority. He polled 15,315 votes.

Yong was later disqualified after he was found guilty by an election court judge for committing corrupt practices during the 1999 Sabah state election.

Political analysts believed that most of the votes received by DAP and Keadilan were protest votes from the Chinese against SAPP.