GPS officially wins 76 out of 82 seats following thumping victory in Mulu

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Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) again secured a two-third victory in the 12th state election. — Bernama photo

KUCHING (Dec 19): Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) now officially won 76 out of the 82 state seats after securing the last seat in Mulu.

The Election Commission (EC) only issued the official result today following conclusion of vote tallying process which was affected yesterday by adverse weather conditions.

GPS candidate Dato Gerawat Gala successful retained the seat with 2,875-vote majority, which represented an increase of almost 30 per cent from the 2016 state election.

Gerawat polled 3,731 votes in a four-cornered contest, against 856 votes for Prod Dr Son Radu of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and 810 votes for Roland Engan of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Another contender Richard Ibuh of Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) only managed 199 votes and lost his election deposit.

Results for the Mulu seat could not be finalised yesterday because the bad weather had affected the vote tallying process.

EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh had said the EC had taken into consideration the safety of election workers who have to use helicopters to fly ballot boxes to the official vote tallying centre for Mulu.

He added the adverse weather conditions had also caused land connectivity to be cut off.

With GPS taking Mulu, the alliance now has 76 seats in the State Legislative Assembly while Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) won four and Democratic Action Party (DAP) taking two.

GPS chairman Datuk Patinggi Abang Johan Tun Openg was sworn in as Chief Minister last night at the Astana Negeri, shortly after GPS achieved the majority needed to form the state government.