PETALING JAYA: BN retained both Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seats yesterday by big majorities of 9,191 and 6,969 votes respectively.
BN candidate Budiman Mohd Zohdi of Umno polled 16,800 votes in Sungai Besar to beat Amanah’s Azhar Abdul Shukur (7,609 votes) and PAS’ Dr Abdul Rani Osman (6,902 votes). A total of 379 votes were rejected.
In Kuala Kangsar, BN’s Datin Mastura Mohd Yazid won the seat previously held by her late husband Datuk Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad by polling 12,653 votes to beat PAS’ Dr Najihatussalehah Ahmad (5,684 votes), Amanah’s Prof Dr Ahmad Termizi Ramli (4,883 votes), and independent Izat Bukhary Ismail Bukhary (54 votes)—lost deposit. There were 239 spoilt votes.
Mastura’s triumph simultaneously enabled her to continue her husband’s struggle other than repeating the history of a woman becoming the Kuala Kangsar MP after Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz became its elected representative for seven terms from 1982 to 2008.
The twin landslide victories signalled a return to power for BN in both seats after a dismal result in the 13th general election in 2013 (GE13).
In GE13, Wan Mohammad won Kuala Kangsar by garnering 14,215 votes (50.4 per cent ). He defeated Khalil Idham Lim Abdullah of PAS who polled 13,136 votes (46.6 per cent) while Independent Kamilia Ibrahim got a mere 447 votes (1.6 per cent).
In Sungai Besar, Datuk Noriah Kasnon won with 18,695 votes (49.6 per cent) to defeat PAS’ Mohamed Salleh M Husin (18,296 votes) (48.6 per cent).
Both by-elections were called following the death of both MPs in a tragic helicopter crash during the 11th Sarawak state election last month.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission said 74 per cent of registered voters cast their ballots in Sungai Besar yesterday. In was 71 per cent in Kuala Kangsar.
The voter turnout was significantly lower when compared with 2013 — 88 per cent and 84.3 per cent respectively.