UMNO/BN must thank the Election Commission for fixing polling day on Wednesday for the slight UMNO/BN majority in the Kuala Besut by-election, which resulted in a lower voter turnout of 1,193 voters or 79.78% compared to 87% in the 13th general election on May 5.
The Umno/BN candidate Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman secured 8,288 votes as against PAS candidate Endot@Azlan Yusuf, who polled 5,696 votes – a majority of 2,592 votes which is an increase of 158 votes from the 2,434-vote majority secured by Umno/BN in the recent general election.
UMNO Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has claimed that BN’s inability to achieve its 4,000-vote majority target in Kuala Besut was due to overconfidence among BN supporters who did not turn up at the ballot box.
He also attributed the 7 per cent lower voter turnout than the last general election to the slower pace of life during the month of Ramadan.
However, the opposite is more likely to be the case, as the lower turnout is the result of the polling day being fixed on a working day, causing many outstation voters not returning to cast their vote.
If voter turn-out in the by-election had been as high as during the general election, with the majority of those who did not return to Kuala Besut to vote in the by-election voting for the PAS candidate, the Umno/BN majority in the by-election is likely to be lower than the 2,434-vote majority in the recent general election.
Such an outcome with a smaller majority, despite victory still going to the UMNO/BN candidate, would have been seen as a setback for UMNO/BN especially after goodies of some RM500 million have rained down the constituency and the voters during the by-election by both the Federal and state governments – turning the Kuala Besut by-election into one of the most expensive “buy-elections” in history.
PAS has secured a respectable result in the Kuala Besut by-election as nobody really expects the Umno/BN candidate to lose in their stronghold.
The biggest loser is Umno/BN because of their failure to achieve the target of a 4,000-vote majority victory in the by-election.
Don’t kid yourself, this was an important win for UMNO/BN. Yes buy in buy-election reached a leap of new heights and they were up to their old sheenanigans. THE POINT IS THEY STILL MANAGED TO DO IT. In other words, the fear of UMNO/BN demise is NOT imminent.
UMNO/BN is a party of making excuses – a good excuse is as good as any other political capital to them and they take HUGE comfort in it. THIS WIN is a good enough for them to sell that their party will remain in power for the forseeable future and hence maintain order and discipline. Those who seek to run fear through the organisation for their own aim or even for legitimate aim is not going to get that far..
///turning the Kuala Besut by-election into one of the most expensive “buy-elections” in history….///
Was it worthwhile to spend RM500 million to jack up the majority vote by 158 votes? I am sure Umno had no regret of doing that as the money spent belonged to taxpayers.
Wang Ehsan.
Must be one of the most expensive seat for UMNO / BN to win-retain.
Let us have a few more and they will go bankrupt.
///Those who spread pictures of SK Seri Pristina pupils having their meals in the school’s shower room may be investigated under the Sedition Act.///–Malaysiakini
What happens in Malaysian schools cannot be shown now. You might wonder whether they are Nazi’s concentration camps.
These days anything can be seditious if a ‘Little Napoleon’ says it is so. With the blessings of some higher-ups of course.
Why there is Muslim law forbidden Muslim women enter beauty contest?
Why there is no Muslim law forbidden corrupted Muslim men/women forbidden to enter election?
The Kuala Besut constituency has only 17,713 registered voters. The RM 500 million goodies promised by BN worked out to RM 28 thousand per voter, a mind boggling amount. In a poor constituency like Kuala Besut where most people find it hard to make ends meet, such a big amount of sweetener would surely have a profound impact on the direction of voting. I don’t think BN could be proud of this win. RM 500 million just to increase the majority by 156 votes is too expensive.