REMBAU: There were four candidates vying for the Rantau state seat, however attention was on Barisan Nasional (BN) as it attempted to defend the seat, and its opponent Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Victory was on the side of BN tonight as Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, or Tok Mat, defended the seat he held since 2004 after a gruelling two-week campaign came to an end last night and Rantau voters cast their ballots today.
Mohamad, 62, who is Umno deputy president and BN deputy chairman polled 10,397 votes against PH's Dr S Streram, 64, who garnered 5,887 votes.
Mohamad also emerged victorious in all polling districts except Bandar Ekar, as he retained Rantau for BN with a 4,510 vote-majority.
The two independent candidates; R Malarvizhi, 51, and Mohd Nor Yassin, 67, only managed 83 and 79 votes respectively, effectively losing their deposits.
Meanwhile, there were 146 spoilt votes.
The official announcement was made by Election Commission (EC) returning officer Mohd Nizam Tajul Arus at the vote tally centre in SJKC Bandar Sri Sendayan, here.
According to the EC, voter turnout was at 79.31 per cent.
The by-election today was held after the Federal Court dismissed Mohamad's appeal to set aside an Election Court decision to declare his victory in the 14th General Election (GE14) null and void.
Mohamad won the seat uncontested in May last year when Dr Streram was unable to submit his nomination papers after being denied entry into the nomination centre for not having a pass issued by the EC.
Dr Streram later filed an election petition to challenge Mohamad's unopposed victory.
A total of 14 polling stations involving 53 streams in the Rantau state seat by-election opened at 8am today to enable 20,793 voters to exercise their right.
The polling centres using 11 schools and three community halls closed at 5.30pm.
The seat has 20,926 registered voters, including 20,804 regular voters, 118 early voters and four absentee voters.
Out of the 20,804 regular voters, 11 were postal voters.