Umno remains BN’s pillar
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno remains the pillar of strength for Barisan Nasional ( BN) as the party contributed the most seats to the ruling coalition in the 13th general election (GE13).
Out of the 133 parliamentary seats won by BN, Umno contributed 88. It contested 120 seats this time.
The 109 seats it won shows an increase of 23 per cent over the 79 it won out of the 117 it contested in the 2008 general election.
As for state seats nationwide, Umno won 244 seats out of 339 contested compared to 239 out of 338 seats it contested previously.
Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak obtained a bigger majority this time, defending Pekan by defeating Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) candidate Mohd Fariz Musa by 35,613 votes.
In the last general election, Najib defeated PKR’s Khairul Anuar Ahmad Zainuddin with a 26,464-vote majority .
Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also retained his Pagoh parliamentary seat after defeating Mohd Rozali Jamil from PAS with a 12,842-vote majority.
In 2008, Muhyiddin defeated Mohd Rozali with a majority of 12,581 votes.
As for the hot seats, Umno only won the Arau parliamentary seat when Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim beat PAS strongman Datuk Dr Haron Din with a majority of 1,371 votes.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor managed to retain the Putrajaya parliamentary seat three times in a row after defeating PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa with a 5,541-vote majority.
Datuk Idris Haron easily won the Sungai Udang state seat in Melaka, defeating PKR’s Asri Buang with a majority of 9,136 votes.
In Kedah, Umno won 19 of the 28 state seats it contested, thus wresting back the state from PAS. In the 2008 general election, it won only 12 seats out of the same number it contested.
Besides that, Umno won 10 of the 13 parliamentary seats it contested in Kedah this time.
The Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur saw Umno winning back the Titiwangsa seat while retaining Setiawangsa.
Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah are still Umno’s strongholds as it won most of the parliamentary and state seats it contested in these states.
Although Umno failed to win Kelantan, Penang and Selangor for BN, its performance improved except in Selangor where it only won four parliamentary seats, same as in GE12, and only 12 state seats compared to 20 in GE12. — Bernama