KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — A total of 31 female candidates out of the 127 who contested parliamentary seats in the 15th General Election (GE15) have secured the people’s mandate.
Meanwhile, a total of 15 out of 60 candidates contesting the state seats in Perlis, Perak, Pahang, and Bugaya in Sabah managed to win their respective seats.
Of those contesting parliamentary seats, 16 were Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidates, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) (five candidates), Perikatan Nasional (PN) (seven candidates), three from Barisan Nasional (BN), and one from Warisan, while 15 women candidates contested the state seats comprising PH (seven candidates), PN (five candidates) and three BN candidates.
Among the PH candidates who managed to win seats were former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who won the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat with a majority of 9,817 votes, Teo Nie Ching, Teresa Kok Sim and Hannah Yeoh who retained the Kulai, Seputeh and Segambut seats respectively.
Meanwhile, GPS candidates namely former Tourism Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Nancy Shukri secured the Santubong parliamentary seat with a 19,485-vote majority and Datuk Rubiah Wang retained the Kota Samarahan parliamentary seat.
A fresh face fielded by GPS, Rodiyah Sapiee defeated PH candidate Cikgu Lahaji to win the Batang Sadong parliamentary seat with a majority of 14,893 votes.
In the meantime, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Noraini Ahmad who won the Parit Sulong parliamentary constituency with a majority of 11,474 votes after obtaining 25,740 votes, is among BN women candidates who managed to secure seats.
Besides her, Umno Supreme Council member, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said retained the Pengerang parliamentary seat when she managed to garner 21,738 votes as well as Datuk Siti Aminah Aching who won the Beaufort parliamentary seat.
Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin of PN defended the Masjid Tanah seat which she won in GE14 on the BN ticket, after obtaining 25,604 votes with a majority of 4,411 and defeating BN candidate, Abdul Hakim Abdul Wahid.
Warisan Wirawati (women) chief Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis became the only female candidate from the party to win a seat when she defended the Kota Belud parliamentary constituency with a majority of 4,582 votes.
Meanwhile, PH’s stronghold, the Permatang Pauh seat fell into the hands of the challenger from PN when Nurul Izzah Anwar lost to Muhammad Fawwaz Mat Jan with a majority of 5,272 votes.
Incumbent Ampang Member of Parliament Datuk Zuraida Kamarudin failed to defend the seat in the fight against nine other contenders when she only managed to garner 4,589 votes under Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM).
The number of women candidates contesting in GE15 went down from 251 to 187 candidates in contrast with GE14.
PH managed to win 82 parliamentary seats, PN (73), BN (30), GPS (22), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) (6), Warisan (3), PBM one seat and two independent candidates. — Bernama
