KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (PKDM) president Datuk Peter Anthony will not be contesting in the Tenom parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election (GE15) after his nomination papers were said to have been rejected by the Election Commission (EC).

A check on the EC website shows only five candidates confirmed to contest the interior Tenom seat in Sabah. They are Ukim Buandi (Parti Warisan) , Noorita Sual (PH-DAP), Jamawi Jaafar (BN-Umno) and independent candidates, Peggy Chaw and Riduan Rubin.

Earlier, police fired tear gas at the Tenom nomination centre after supporters carrying the flags of PKDM became rowdy.

Videos of the chaotic scenes have been posted on social media, depicting the crowd shouting and trying to force entry into the nomination centre.


 
It was understood that PKDM supporters were not satisfied with the outcome of the nomination process.

Anthony’s nomination papers were said to be rejected due to his court record.

In May, the former Sabah infrastructure development minister was convicted of forging documents in relation to a system maintenance contract. He is appealing the case. In August, he was acquitted of money-laundering charges.

Anthony was previously vice president in Parti Warisan before he quit to form PKDM.

He is the assemblyman for Melalap, which is a state seat in the Tenom parliamentary seat. He won Melalap under Warisan’s ticket in the 2020 state polls.