By-election date set in Malaysia

By-election date set in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Election authorities have fixed July 21
for by-election to a seat in eastern Malaysia's Sabah state that
was ordered vacated by a judge who ruled it had been filled by
fraud.

The Sunday Star newspaper said nomination would be on July 12.
The Likas seat fell vacant after high court judge Muhammad Kamil
Awang on June 8 ruled that a member of Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamed's National Front coalition had won it in 1999 with the
help of "phantom voters".

Sabah's population of about three million includes an
estimated 500,000 immigrants, mainly from Indonesia and the
Philippines.

Muhammad Kamil last month said he had been ordered by a
superior in 1999 to drop the Likas case but that he refused and
went on to hear it. Police are investigating his claim.