GE15: PN wins in Padang Serai, BN retains Tioman

KUALA LUMPUR: The announcement of the Padang Serai Parliamentary seat last night completes the contest for all 222 parliamentary seats in the 15th general election (GE15) in what is considered the most intense in Malaysia's political history.

Polling for the seat, which was supposed to be on Nov 19, had to be postponed following the death of M.Karupaiya, the candidate representing Pakatan Harapan (PH), on Nov 16 from heart complications.

Datuk Azman Nasrudin of Perikatan Nasional (PN) wrested the PKR stronghold seat when he obtained 51,637 votes in a six-cornered fight.

The win also saw PN continuing its dominance in Kedah in this election by winning its 14th out of the 15 parliamentary seats contested, with the sole loss being in Sungai Petani to PH.

Azman, who is also Lunas assemblyman, won Padang Serai with a 16,260-vote majority, defeating PH's Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak who obtained 35,377 votes, Datuk C. Sivaraj (Barisan Nasional) who received 2,983 votes and Independent candidate Sreanandha Rao who managed 846 votes.

The other two candidates - Pejuang's Hamzah Abd Rahman and Warisan's Mohd Bakhri Hashim - obtained 424 votes and 149 votes respectively.

Previously, based on the consensus of the unity government, BN agreed to make way for the PH candidate in GE15 for the Padang Serai parliamentary seat while Warisan withdrew from contesting the seat to throw his support behind Mohamad Sofee.

However, Sivaraj and Mohd Bakhri's names remained on the ballot papers based on Article 9 of the Elections (Election Process) Regulations 1981, which states that no one candidate can withdraw from the contest after 10 am on nomination day.

As such, of the 222 parliamentary seats, PN has won 74, PH (82), BN (30), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (23), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (six), Warisan (three), Independents (two) and Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) one each.

Today was also polling day for the Tioman state seat that was postponed following the death of PN candidate Md Yunus Ramli 61, on polling day (Nov 19) from a suspected heart attack.

BN managed to defend the final seat in the Pahang state assembly when its candidate Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Hussain who got 8,080 votes, won with a slim majority of 573 over PN candidate Nor Idayu Hashim (7,507 votes).

Three other candidates, namely Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly from PH got 784 votes, Osman A Bakar (Pejuang) 79 votes and Sulaiman Bakar (Independent) only got 58 votes.

The result took the total number of state assembly seats won by BN to 17, while PN also has 17, and PH has eight.

The status-quo of the Pahang administration remains, as BN and PH had established a cooperation to form the state government consented to by the Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

The collaboration also saw PH - through Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) - give way to a BN candidate in the 15th Tioman state election, although Mohd Fadzli's name was still listed on the ballot paper.

The Election Commission (EC) said the turnout for the Padang Serai polls was 68.95 per cent, and 58.39 per cent for Tioman.

A total of 46 polling stations and 230 voting streams were opened for the voting process in the Padang Serai parliamentary constituency, while the one in Tioman involved 17 polling stations and 52 voting streams.

-- BERNAMA