Thirty-six polling centres were opened to voters at 7.30am, with most centres scheduled to close at 5.30pm.

There are a total of 48,722 registered voters, comprising 48,526 ordinary voters and 196 police personnel and their spouses who voted early.

The contest for the Kinabatangan seat is a three-cornered fight involving Barisan Nasional’s Naim Kurniawan Moktar, Warisan’s Saddi Abdul Rahman and independent candidate Goldam Hamid.

Meanwhile, it is a straight fight for the Lamag seat between BN’s Ismail Ayob and Warisan’s Mazliwati Abdul Malek.

The by-elections were called following the death of the incumbent, 66-year-old Bung Moktar Radin, in early December.

The former Sabah BN chairman had held both seats, defeating Mazliwati and retaining Kinabatangan in the 15th general election with a 4,330-vote majority.

He also defended the Lamag state seat with a 153-vote majority in a six-cornered contest in the Sabah state election on Nov 29 last year.