Pakatan breaks Barisan’s grip in Perlis

KANGAR: The onslaught by Pakatan Harapan and PAS succeeded in breaking Barisan Nasional’s vice grip on Perlis, winning one parliamentary and five state seats.

The rise of Pakatan was unexpected as it captured the Kangar parliamentary seat, retained the Indera Kayangan state seat, and took two more state seats of Kuala Perlis and Sena from Barisan.

PAS took Guar Sanji and retained Sanglang, both state seats.

Of the 15 state seats in Perlis, 10 are now under Barisan, three in Pakatan hands, and two with PAS.

The four PKR candidates who won are Noor Azam Karap (Kuala Perlis), Asrul Nizan Abd Jalil (Sena), Gan Ay Ling (Indera Kayangan) and Noor Amin Ahmad (Kangar).

PKR and PAS made their first forays into Perlis in GE13 when they won Indera Kayangan and Sanglang respectively.

The contest for all three parliamentary and 15 state seats in Perlis saw three-cornered fights among Barisan, Pakatan and PAS, except for the Titi Tinggi state seat which involved four contest- ants, including an Independent.

The focus was on the Arau parliamentary seat, which involved Perlis Umno liaison chief Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin and Datuk Abdul Rahman Daud of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia. Shahidan won the contest. Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man won the Bintong state seat.

Barisan’s Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin retained the Padang Besar parliamentary seat, defeating Pribumi’s Izizam Ibrahim and PAS’ Mokhtar Senik.

The swearing-in ceremony of the mentri besar will be held at Istana Arau today.