Sarawak CM Abang Johari in 4-way fight for Gedong

Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg will face a four-cornered fight for the Gedong seat in the 12th Sarawak state election on Dec 18.

Representing Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president has for the first since 1981 moved out of his traditional Satok seat, and will now contest against three new faces: Mohamad Sofian Fariz Sharbini from Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), Kamal Bujang of Amanah, and Tomson Ango of Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK).

Their names were announced by returning officer for Gedong, Abdul Khalid Manap, after the nomination process at the Gedong community hall closed at 10am.

Abang Johari chose to contest in Gedong, a rural constituency, after serving nine terms in Satok.

Gedong, which has 7,208 registered voters, comes under the Batang Sadong parliamentary constituency and is about an hour and a half’s drive from Kuching.

Gedong was one of 11 state seats created in a redelineation exercise in 2015. About 60% of its voters are Malay, followed by Iban (30%) and others (10%).

Its incumbent Mohd Naroden Majais had announced that he was giving way to allow Abang Johari a chance to contest the seat this time around.

Naroden, who is also assistant minister of tnternational trade and industry, industrial terminal and entrepreneur development, was a five-term assemblyman for Simunjan before moving to Gedong in the 2016 state election.

In that contest, Naroden obtained 4,064 votes, defeating Rapelson Richard Hamit from Amanah and independent candidate Uja Bunsi.

Polling is on Dec 18 while early voting will take place on Dec 14.