Politics

PN wrests Padang Serai with 16,000 majority votes, PH's first defeat since formation of federal's unity government [NSTTV]

KULIM: Perikatan Nasional (PN) extended its dominance in Kedah by wresting Padang Serai parliamentary seat from Pakatan Harapan (PH) with a 16,260 majority votes in the 15th General Election (GE15).

The victory also ended PKR's dominance in Padang Serai for the past three general elections since 2008, delivering PN its 14th parliamentary seat in Kedah, leaving PH with just Sungai Petani parliamentary seat in the state.

PH candidate's Datuk Azman Nasrudin's huge victory also added another seat for the coalition after securing 73 parliamentary seats nationwide in GE15.

The results also marked PH's first defeat in electoral battle since the formation of a unity government at the federal level after none of the political coalitions managed to secure a simple majority in Dewan Rakyat in GE15 held on Nov 24.

PN's Azman Nasrudin, who is also Lunas assemblyman won the six-cornered battle after pulling 51,637 votes, defeating closest opponent from PH, Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak who tailed in the second position by securing 35,377 votes.

Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk C. Sivarraajh who withdrew from the race on December 2 to make way for Sofee, garnered 2,983 votes.

Parti Warisan (Warisan) candidate Mohd Bakhri Hashim who had earlier withdrawn from the contest, also to make way for the PH candidate lost his deposit with just 149 votes.

Both BN and Warisan had campaigned for PH candidate as a gesture of support for the unity government.

Meanwhile, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) candidate Hamzah Abd Rahman has joined the other Gabungan Tanah Air (GTA) coalition leaders and candidates who lost their deposit in GE15 after pulling just 424 votes.

Independent candidate Sreanandha Rao who made his debut in the general elections also had his deposit burnt after securing just 846 votes.

Candidates who failed to garner at least 10 per cent of the total votes lost their deposit.

The Election Commission's (EC) returning officer for the Padang Serai parliamentary election Datuk Abdul Bari Abdullah announced the official results at the votes tallying center in Kulim Hi-Tech Park Sports Complex here about 10.52pm.

Also present was EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh.

Present to accompany Azman during the official announcement were Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor and PN Arau PN Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.

The Padang Serai parliamentary seat was held by PH's M. Karupaiya when he secured a 8,813 vote-majority win, beating MCA candidate Datuk Dr Leong Yong Kong and Mohammad Sobri Osman from Pas in the previous general election.

Karupaiya, 69, was nominated again by PH on Nov 5 to defend the seat in the GE15's Nov 24 polls.

However, he died on Nov 16, two days after being admitted to Kulim Hospital due to a heart attack while campaigning.

Following his death, the Election Commission had decided to postpone the Padang Serai polls to Dec 7.

A total of 91,416 votes were cast (68.95 per cent) and 753 votes were rejected.

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