BN retains Tioman seat with narrow majority

ROMPIN: Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussain retained the Tioman state seat for the 15th General Election (GE15) today.

Mohd Johari won with a narrow majority of 573 votes after obtaining 8,080 votes, defeating Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Nor Idayu Hashim who garnered 7,507 votes, Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly of Pakatan Harapan (784), Osman A Bakar of Pejuang (79) and independent candidate Sulaiman Bakar (58).

The official results were announced by Returning Officer Datuk Ahmad Nasim Mohd Sidek at the Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah here tonight.

Only Mohd Johari and Sulaiman were present during the announcement.

Also present were Pahang BN leaders led by its chairman Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.

The Election Commission (EC) said the Tioman election recorded a 58.39 per cent voter turnout and 91 rejected votes.

The election for the seat was postponed following the death of PN candidate Md Yunus Ramli, 61, on voting day (Nov 19) believed to be due to a heart attack.

With the latest results, BN and PN each won 17 seats; however, it does not affect the Pahang state administration since BN and PH have already formed the state government, which was approved by the Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

PH secured the remaining eight state seats in the polls on Nov 19.

The formation of the state government also allowed Wan Rosdy to be sworn in as Menteri Besar on Nov 28.

Following this development, Amanah decided that Mohd Fadzli would give way to Mohd Johari to boost BN's chances of beating PN, however, the EC informed that Mohd Fadzli's name would still be printed on the ballot paper and voters could vote for him, as the status of candidates cannot be changed after their nominations were accepted.

-- BERNAMA