PH breaks BN’s hold on Perlis

KANGAR: The onslaught by Pakatan Harapan (PH) and PAS succeeded in breaking the Barisan Nasional's (BN) monopoly of Perlis when they won a parliamentary seat and five state seats in the 14th general election (GE14) on Wednesday.

The rise of PH was unexpected as it captured the Kangar parliamentary seat and the Kuala Perlis and Sena state seats from BN, while PAS captured the Guar Sanji state seat and at the same time, retained the Indera Kayangan and Sanglang state seats.

This means, of the 15 state seats in Perlis, 10 are under BN , PH (three) and PAS (three).

The four PKR candidates who won are Noor Azam Karap (Kuala Perlis state seat ), Asrul Nizan Abd Jalil (Sena state seat) and Gan Ay Ling (Indera Kayangan state seat) and Noor Amin Ahmad (Kangar parliamentary seat). They are not big names in the party.

PKR and PAS made their first entry into Perlis in GE13 when they won the Indera Kayangan and Sanglang state seat, respectively.

The contest for all three parliamentary seats and 15 state seats in Perlis witnessed a three-cornered fight among BN, PH and PAS, except for the Titi Tinggi state seat which involved four contestants, including an Independent candidate.

The focus was on the contest for 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 PPBM. Shahidan won the contest.

Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man won the Bintong state seat.

For the Padang Besar parliamentary seat, BN candidate Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin retained the seat after defeating the division's PPBM head, Izizam Ibrahim and Mokhtar Senik, of PAS.

In another development, the swearing-in ceremony for the Menteri Besar's post will be held at Istana Arau today, as contained in an invitation sent to Bernama yesterday.