ROMPIN: Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the election results in Rompin was respectable given the current political climate in the country.
"It is a respectable result. It is not easy in this political climate. We will conduct a post mortem to identify (the causes)," he said.
Hishammuddin said the 8,895 majority that BN obtained was not considered small.
"The majority is not small. The general elections and by-elections are two different things. It happened before during Jamaluddin Jarjis' time - when he obtined a 9,000 majority. It was only in the last elections that coincidently he obtained a large majority," said Hishammuddin.
Hishammuddin, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) operations director for the by-election, said the decrease in majority could be caused by the low turnout.
"We will find out why the majority decreased. It may be because many out of state voters had not returned. In the last elections the turnout was 85 per cent.
What is important is that we can hear the voices from the public. The voices of the public will be taken into consideration," he said.
Barisan Nasional secured 8,895 majority over Pas in tonight’s by-election, obtaining 23,796 votes against Pas' 14,901 votes with a voter turnout of 74 per cent.
In the last general elections, Jamaluddin retained the seat in the 12th general election by defeating Nuridah Mohd Salleh of PAS with a majority of 15, 114 votes.