State polls: Reezal Merican wins in Bertam

KEPALA BATAS: Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Bertam state seat Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican secured 10,453 votes to win the contest in the state election today.

According to the official result released by the Election Commission (EC), Reezal Merican won with a majority of 2,321 votes.

He defeated incumbent Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq of Perikatan Nasional (PN) who secured 8,132 votes in a one-on-one contest.

In the 15th General Election (GE) held last year, Reezal Merican failed to defend the Kepala Batas Parliamentary seat when he lost to PN candidate Dr Siti Mastura Muhammad.

When met by reporters, Reezal Merican said that the victory was a redemption for his defeat in GE15.

The former housing and local government minister said the notion of a unity government was also among the factors for his victory.

“In the past, only BN helped me, now friends in PH also helped. My position is now more representative because I have the support of the Malays, Chinese and Indians.

“I am satisfied and feel that this is a meaningful victory in the current political scenario,” he said, adding that he left it to the party leadership to decide on any positions in the state government.

Meanwhile, Mohd Yusni Mat Piah (PN) defended the Penaga state seat by garnering 13,223 votes, defeating Mohd Naim Salleh from BN who got 7,686 votes, while in Pinang Tunggal, PN candidate Bukhori Ghazali from PAS won with a majority of 6,928 votes after getting 17,060 votes, defeating Zainuddin Mohamed from PKR who obtained 10,132 votes.

-- BERNAMA