S'wak Polls: Baru Bian retains Ba'kelalan seat for third term

MIRI: Baru Bian, contesting as a Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) candidate, retained the Ba'kelalan seat for the third term in the 12th Sarawak state election today.

The decision was announced by Ba'kelalan seat returning officer Joseph Ganang Surang at the vote tallying centre in the old Lawas District Office in Pekan Lawas, which is about 241 kilometres (km) by road from Miri.

Baru, who contested and won Ba'kelalan under a PKR ticket in 2016, secured the seat by garnering 2,687 votes for a 680-vote majority over his closest challenger, Sam Laya of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), who obtained 2,007 votes.

The other three challengers, Peter Asut of Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) garnered 110 votes; Martin Samuel Labo of PKR (57 votes), and independent candidate Agnes Padan (55 votes) lost their deposits.

In the 2016 election, Baru, contested under a PKR ticket and defeated the candidate from Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), which has been rebranded as Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), with a majority of 538 votes.

-- BERNAMA