Young candidates still unable to convince voters in Melaka

KUALA LUMPUR: The Melaka state election which ended tonight saw only three young candidates manage to obtain the mandate from voters.

Twenty-one candidates or 19 per cent of the total 112 candidates who contested in the election, aged 35 and below.

Of the total, nine were from Perikatan Nasional (PN); Pakatan Harapan (PH) (six); Barisan Nasional (BN) (two); Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) (one); and three were independent candidates.

BN's candidate Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, 33, won the three-cornered fight in Merlimau with a majority of 3,248 votes to defeat Azrin Ab Majid (PH-Amanah) and Abd Alim Shapie (PN-PAS).

Dr Mohd Aleef Yusof, 35, of PN-Bersatu won the Sungai Udang seat, defeating Datuk Seri Mohamad Ali Mohamad (BN-UMNO), Hasmorni Tamby (PH-PKR) and Mohd Zahar Hashim (Independent) with a 530-vote majority.

MELAKA-YOUNG CANDIDATES 2 (LAST) KUALA LUMPUR

Of the young candidates from PH, only Kerk Chee Yee, 29, obtained a 'comfortable' mandate from voters in Ayer Keroh with a majority of 5,624 votes.

Besides Dr Muhamad Akmal, Dr Mohd Aleef and Kerk, other young candidates were still unable to convince voters who were seen to prefer experienced candidates.

The youngest candidate in the Melaka polls, Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir, 21, who represented PH-PKR gained the biggest attention during the campaign but only managed to secure 1,356 votes in a four-cornered fight in Sungai Rambai.

Farzana Hayani, who is a Universiti Teknologi Mara undergraduate, lost to Siti Faizah Abdul Azis of BN who garnered 3,801 votes, while Muhammad Jefri Safry (PN-Bersatu) obtained 2,664 votes and Nazatul Asyraf Md Dom of Putra, 84 votes.

BN achieved a landslide victory in the Melaka election, with a two-thirds majority, to form the state government.

The coalition of UMNO, MCA and MIC captured 21 of the 28 seats contested while PH won five seats and PN took two seats.

-- BERNAMA