KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Voter support for Perikatan Nasional (PN) is still going strong even if the Opposition coalition lost in yesterday’s Kuala Kubu Baru by-election, its chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
While the former prime minister said he accepts the poll outcome, he blamed PN’s loss in the Selangor seat to Pakatan Harapan (PH) on the low voter turnout.
“Perikatan Nasional accepts the choices made by the voters in the Kuala Kubu Baru by-election.
“Briefly, this by-election result shows the level of support towards PN still remains even though the voter turnout was low,” he said in a statement thanking PN’s campaigners and voters.
“PN will study the by-election results in detail and take steps to increase support for the party in the future,” Muhyiddin added.
PH-fielded Pang Sock Tao won the state seat with a 3,869-vote majority, beating PN’s Khairul Azhari Saut who obtained 10,131 votes, an independent candidate Nyau Ke Xin (188 votes) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s (PRM) Hafizah Zainuddin (152 votes).
The voter turnout stood at 61.51 per cent, ranking among the lowest for by-elections following the 15th general election.
A total of 39,269 voters were eligible to cast their ballots today after early voting last Tuesday which saw 97 per cent or 769 police and military personnel and their spouses casting their ballots.
The Kuala Kubu Baru seat fell vacant following the death of its three-term assemblyman, Lee Kee Hiong from DAP-PH, on March 21 from cancer.
She won the seat in the Selangor state election last August, trumping PN, PRM and the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) by a majority of 4,119 votes.
