keningau: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Datuk Yong Teck Lee said the party would contest if a by-election is held for the Pensiangan parliamentary seat.

He said local residents here who are either party members or supporters would get the chance to be the candidate.

Yong was responding to a question from a supporter during a SAPP seminar here, Friday. About 600 members together with their leaders participated in the one-day course.

Yong said he was pleased that SAPP still had strong support in rural areas.

In Sook division, he said they have five party branches with about 1,000 members and in Nabawan, there are three branches with 320 members near Nabawan township, Sapulut and Pensiangan.

On former SAPP Deputy President Datuk Raymond Tan who intends to form a new political party, SAPP Vice President Datuk Philip Yong said Tan is more likely to be a supporter than a party leader.

In the seminar, several supporters proposed that Yong be nominated as the candidate for Pensiangan as many believed he is not politically selfish and has shown sincerity in his struggle to serve the Sabahans' interests.

On Sept 8, the High Court here declared null and void the Pensiangan parliamentary election result in which PBRS President Tan Sri Joseph Kurup won the seat unopposed on nomination day on Feb 24 for the 12th General Election in March.

On Sept. 11, Kurup applied for a stay of execution at the Federal Court in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, following the Kota Kinabalu High Court decision. The decision on Kurup's appeal would be heard on Jan. 7, next year.