KEMAMAN: Pas' landslide victory in the Kemaman by-election might be perceived as a signal from Terengganu voters rejecting opposition representative in the state, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar said.
The Terengganu Menteri Besar, however, refrained from delving deeper into the matter.
"We can interpret it like that (voters rejecting opposition)... I do not want to go further but all quarters can make their own interpretations.
"There might be other reasons as well," he told reporters at the vote tallying centre here.
He was earlier asked about Pas' consecutive significant wins — first in the Kuala Terengganu by-election in August and now in Kemaman.
Both the by-elections were after the Terengganu Election Court annulled the Pas' candidates victory during the 15th general election.
Securing a remarkable victory, Ahmad Samsuri retained the Kemaman seat with 64,998 votes, surpassing Barisan Nasional's General (Rtd) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, who gathered 27,778 votes.
Expressing gratitude for the substantial 37,220 majority achieved, he thanked all contributors and acknowledged their role in surpassing the 30,000 majority set by the party's top leadership.
"Thank you for the huge win. We expected the voter turnout to be between 72 and 74 per cent but we did not achieve that... (However) we (still) managed to surpass the target(majority)," he said.
The Election Commission reported a 65 per cent voter turnout for the Kemaman by-election.