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.