PH RETAINS SUNGAI KANDIS

The voter turnout is one of the lowest ever recorded in an election, but it is enough to give the PKR candidate, Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni, a comfortable majority of 5,842.

PKR retained the Sungai Kandis seat in the byelection yesterday, but with a reduced majority of 5,842 votes. It was lower than the 14th General Election (GE14) where PKR won with a majority of 12,480 votes in a four-cornered fight against BN, Pas and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).

PKR candidate Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni, 48, garnered 15,427 votes in this by-election, followed by BN candidate Datuk Lokman Noor Adam, 45, with 9,585 votes and independent candidate K. Murthy, 60, received 97 votes. Murthy lost his deposit.

Only 49.4 per cent of the 51,217 registered voters cast their votes in the by-election yesterday, which was held following the death of assemblyman Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei of PKR due to lymphoma on July 2.

The Election Commission had targeted an 80 per cent voter turnout for the by-election, held at a cost of RM1.4 million.

In GE14, Mat Shuhaimi won the seat with 23,998 votes, defeating BN candidate Datuk Kamaruzzaman Johari (11,518), Pas’ Mohd Yusof Abdullah (7,573) and PRM’s Hanafiah Husin (76).

The polling process at 19 polling centres with 109 streams ran smoothly without any untoward incidents or provocations from supporters of both political parties.

For postal votes, Zawawi received 18 out of the 59 ballots issued and the BN candidate garnered only 15 votes.

Sungai Kandis election officer Datuk Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad announced the results of the by-election at the voting centre in Dewan Besar Tanjung, Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA), Seksyen 19, at 10pm last night.

The announcement was met with thundering claps and cheers from PKR supporters present in the hall.