Candidates for the Bugaya by-election has been set by Election Commission (EC) to be on 5 November, the same as the general election and the state election for Perak, Perlis and Pahang. After the nomination closed, 7 candidates were approved by EC: Jamil Hamzah from WARISAN, Abdul Aziz Mohd Ibno from
Barisan Nasional (BN), Zulfadzli Shi Ahmad as independent, Karil Kuraini from
Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah (PPRS), Arastam Pandorog from
Pakatan Harapan (PH), Hassan Abu Bakar from
Homeland Fighter's Party (PEJUANG), and Nazmawati Walli from
Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM). Jamil, a syariah lawyer by trade, is the WARISAN Central Youth Exco member, and the party's Semporna branch committee member. He is also the nephew of the party leader
Shafie Apdal, who announced Jamil's candidacy on 3 November. Abdul Aziz were announced as BN candidate on 2 November. A former teacher, Abdul Aziz is the
UMNO deputy chief for its Semporna branch. He has said that improving the basic infrastructure in the constituency would be his focus if he is elected. He also determined to resume projects under BN that were stopped after its defeat in the
2018 Sabah state election, such as building a hospital in Semporna. He is said to be former
Democratic Action Party (DAP) member (although the membership claim was disputed by DAP), and has been arrested in 2019 on charges on defamation against the Prime Minister at the time
Mahathir Mohamad. He has contested in the 2020 state election before in the
Tanjong Papat seat, losing his deposit after only gaining 553 votes. In his campaign, Zulfadzli stated he wants to help highlight the water and road in the area and improve it if he is elected. He has also cited his advantage as a local, having been born and raised in Kampung Bugaya, and also his ethnicity as a Bajau, which forms the majority in the constituency, to help him in the election. Arastam, the PH candidate from its
People's Justice Party (PKR) component party, is a deep sea fish businessman by trade. The PPRS candidate, Karil, is a former military personnel in the
Malaysian Armed Forces. Karil has said his passion to 'defend the community' are his motivation to contest in the election. Analysts such as Dr Romzi Ationg and Dr Zaini Othman saw the by-election to be a straight fight between 2 heavyweight parties in Sabah, WARISAN and BN despite having 7 candidates in the election. ==Results==