The Election Commission (EC) will meet on Friday to decide on the dates for the nomination and polling for the Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election, Sabah EC director Mohd Idrus Ismail said today.

Mohd Idrus left for Putrajaya this afternoon to attend the meeting.

The by-election for the area has to be called following the death of incumbent Edmund Chong Ket Wah in a road accident on Saturday.

In the last general election, Chong polled 9,479 votes to win the seat, defeating an independent candidate Chung Kwong Wing who garnered 3,708 votes.

Meanwhile,  the Wanita BN and Wanita Umno machinery in five divisions in the east coast of Sabah have identified campaign strategies in facing the by-election, its chief senator Armani Mahiruddin said.

She said that the Wanita movements in Libaran, Sandakan, Batu Sapi, Beluran and Kinabatangan would mobilise their machinery as soon as the EC announced the nomination and polling dates for the by-election.

"We are ready and we have identified strategies to get close to the voters," she said after meeting Batu Sapi and Libaran Wanita Umno movements as well as Wanita PBS from the two divisions in Sandakan last night.

Armani, who is Sabah Wanita Umno chief, said the meeting was to discuss strategies and preparations for the parliamentary by-election.

- Bernama