2004 Ba'kelalan by-election
The Ba'kelalan by-election was a by-election for the seat of Ba'kelalan state constituency in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly. The seat fell vacant after the death if its incumbent member, Dr Judson Sakai Tagal in a helicopter crash at Mount Murud. The seat was defended for Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government by Nelson Balang Rining of the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), while an independent politician Baru Bian contested against BN in a straight one-to-one fight.
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Ba'kelalan state assembly seat | ||||||||||||||||
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At the time of the election, there were 7,976 voters, a majority of whom were the Lun Bawang and Kelabit people. Since the creation of the constituency in 1995, the incumbent Dr Judson Sakai Tagal won the seat for two consecutive terms uncontested. This is the first time that the Ba'kelalan residents are able to exercise their rights to vote since the creation of the constituency. The seat has been won continuously by BN since the constituency creation.
In this by-election, Nelson Balang Rining successfully defended the seat at a 1,452 majority. Baru Bian, who only decided to contest within 24 hours of the nomination day was able to garner 1,391 votes although he was widely believed to have lost deposit (garner less than 1/8 of the total votes cast) before the polling day.