Unofficial result: Gerakan celebrates despite expecting recount

The unofficial vote count by Barisan Nasional party workers has shown that the ruling coalition's candidate, Datuk Mah Siew Keong has managed to wrest the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat from DAP with a razor thin majority.

"Unofficially, I think we won by about a hundred over votes," announced Gerakan wanita chief Datuk Tan Lian Ho to a frenzied crowd here.

Mah, the 53-year-old Gerakan president who arrived at the Gerakan headquarters in Teluk Intan around 8pm, was hoisted up by a crowd chanting "BN menang! (BN has won)".

Mah went straight into the Gerakan meeting room after shaking hands and receiving congratulatory messages by his members and supporters.

The last figures from the BN command centre received by party leaders at the Gerakan headquarters was 19,759 votes garnered by Mah, while DAP's Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud's votes stood at 19,232.

These, say party leaders, were not the final figures.

These figures also did not tally with DAP's unofficial count which puts BN at 20,157 votes and DAP at 19, 919 with a majority of 238 votes.

Unofficial voter turnout today is pegged at 66.5% with 39,850 out of 59,927 registered voters coming out to cast their ballots.

Speaking to the crowd later, Mah asked everyone to wait for the official results.

"We have gotten the unofficial results but our opponent has challenged it.

"In a few hours, the Election Commission will be making a recount. We must be patient, not like others who lose but write in Internet that they won," he said, before telling everyone that he would buy them KFC for dinner.

Previously, Dyana Sofya was expected to win the seat that was previously occupied by the late Seah Leong Peng, who died from cancer on May 1.

However, the lower than expected voter turnout had earlier dampened the DAP's hopes of securing a win.

DAP national advisor Lim Kit Siang had said an 80% voter turnout was needed to win this by-election, and the party was banking on the young, largely pro-opposition outstation voters to deliver the victory.

‎There are 60,438 registered voters in Teluk Intan; the majority are Chinese at 42%, followed by Malay voters (38.6%) and Indians at 19%.