KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Despite the absence of the much-touted Green Wave in the recently-concluded state elections, political pundits Malay Mail spoke to, see Perikatan Nasional (PN) as the real winner.

Apart from successfully defending the three states of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, PN made inroads into Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

Syaza Shukri, assistant professor of political science at International Islamic University Malaysia, said PN's strong performance in the state elections was a testament of their dominance in the country's political arena.

"The biggest winner is, of course, PN as a coalition with supermajority in all three states, and successfully winning more seats in the other three," she said.

Echoing Syaza, Professor of Asian Studies from University of Tasmania, James Chin said that PAS — the coalition's lynchpin party — outdid itself after winning a whopping 105 seats out of 127 it contested.

"Obviously it has to be PAS as it has managed to steamroll the entire Terengganu and there is no more Opposition. That is remarkable and PAS is clearly a big winner," he told Malay Mail.

The Islamist party recorded a 92 per cent success rate in its election campaign this time, just slightly behind its rival in Pakatan Harapan (PH), DAP, which won a remarkable 46 out of 47 seats it contested.

Political analyst Datuk Ismail Sualman highlighted PAS' success in Selangor after winning 10 out of 17 seats contested in the PH stronghold.

"The winner is PN, particularly PAS, because they managed to give a tough fight to PH-BN in Selangor by winning rural seats," he said.

Overall, the Opposition coalition won 146 out 245 seats in the state elections while also winning the most significant share of votes — 3.38 million or 49.3 per cent — cast last Saturday.

A total 70.1 per cent or 6.86 million eligible voters in the six states cast their ballots in Saturday's poll.