The Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) won the crucial by-election in Kuala Terengganu, the capital city of the 'oil' rich state in the east coast of Malaysia. Despite the good victory by the PAS, it is apparent the United Malays National Organization (Umno) has not lost all Malay support.The PAS candidate Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut has been declared the winner of the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat by-election by the Election Commission.
Wahid polled 32,883 votes to Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Salleh who garnered 30,252 votes for a majority 2,631 win
Independent candidate Azharuddin Mamat received 193 votes.
With the victory, the Opposition now has 82 seats in Parliament. Barisan Nasional has 137 seats and the remaining three seats are held by independents.
The opposition needs 30 seats to dislodge the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that has been in power in Malaysia since the country's independence.
While the victory in Kuala Terengganu (KT) will boost the PAS and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition, the large number of votes garnered by the Umno indicates it is still a force to be reckoned with. The opposition need a major shift in the Malay vote nationwide to be able to deny the BN victory in the next general elections which is not expected until 2013.
The Umno had won the KT seat by a slim margin in March 2008 but it was obvious that it will not be able to keep the seat after the incumbent MP passed away last year, which forced the by-election.
For the Opposition, it will now be more challenging since the PAS is reinforced in its belief that it can take on the Umno in its hinterland and reverse the support enjoyed by the Umno from a majority of the Malay voters. Malay-Muslims forms almost 60 percent of the Malaysian population. A majority of Malays voted for the BN in March 2008 thus securing an uneasy victory for the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The Opposition will definitely trumpet on the victory in KT as a sign of the 'decaying' Umno and of the 'irrelevance' of the BN while the government will remain in power with more unease and discomfort after losing yet another member of the Parliament.
There is no breakthrough though in Malaysia as the stand-off between the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim - who leads the PR - and members of the Umno will certainly grip the attention of the entire nation for another year in 2009.
Anwar is planning to circumvent the electoral process by getting a large number of government MP's to cross over to the opposition and to form a new government. His support for 'transfugism' as it is called in French had earlier galvanized the BN to rally its troops together and prevent them from stumbling into the opposition block.
Nonetheless, 2009 could prove to be fatal to the Umno and the BN if Parliamentary polls are held in the remote state of Sarawak. Rumors have it that the Sarawak polls were to be held this year but may be postponed depending on the KT results.
KT is the second big win by the oppostion since March 08 after Anwar Ibrahim's trashing of the Umno in the Permatang Pauh elections last year, in which he regained his former seat but also his 'legitimacy' as an MP in what has been hailed as his personal vindication.
Now that the PAS has proven that it can beat the Umno in Terengganu, the victory might prove to be a challenge to the PR. The PAS is certainly now more powerful to negotiate with the Umno as the two parties have never made public their intention not to 'negotiate' a deal for the creation of an all 'Islamic' alliance to rule the country.
Source:MALAYSIAN NEWS
Wahid polled 32,883 votes to Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Salleh who garnered 30,252 votes for a majority 2,631 winIndependent candidate Azharuddin Mamat received 193 votes.
With the victory, the Opposition now has 82 seats in Parliament. Barisan Nasional has 137 seats and the remaining three seats are held by independents.
The opposition needs 30 seats to dislodge the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that has been in power in Malaysia since the country's independence.
While the victory in Kuala Terengganu (KT) will boost the PAS and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition, the large number of votes garnered by the Umno indicates it is still a force to be reckoned with. The opposition need a major shift in the Malay vote nationwide to be able to deny the BN victory in the next general elections which is not expected until 2013.
The Umno had won the KT seat by a slim margin in March 2008 but it was obvious that it will not be able to keep the seat after the incumbent MP passed away last year, which forced the by-election.
For the Opposition, it will now be more challenging since the PAS is reinforced in its belief that it can take on the Umno in its hinterland and reverse the support enjoyed by the Umno from a majority of the Malay voters. Malay-Muslims forms almost 60 percent of the Malaysian population. A majority of Malays voted for the BN in March 2008 thus securing an uneasy victory for the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The Opposition will definitely trumpet on the victory in KT as a sign of the 'decaying' Umno and of the 'irrelevance' of the BN while the government will remain in power with more unease and discomfort after losing yet another member of the Parliament.
There is no breakthrough though in Malaysia as the stand-off between the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim - who leads the PR - and members of the Umno will certainly grip the attention of the entire nation for another year in 2009.Anwar is planning to circumvent the electoral process by getting a large number of government MP's to cross over to the opposition and to form a new government. His support for 'transfugism' as it is called in French had earlier galvanized the BN to rally its troops together and prevent them from stumbling into the opposition block.
Nonetheless, 2009 could prove to be fatal to the Umno and the BN if Parliamentary polls are held in the remote state of Sarawak. Rumors have it that the Sarawak polls were to be held this year but may be postponed depending on the KT results.
KT is the second big win by the oppostion since March 08 after Anwar Ibrahim's trashing of the Umno in the Permatang Pauh elections last year, in which he regained his former seat but also his 'legitimacy' as an MP in what has been hailed as his personal vindication.
Now that the PAS has proven that it can beat the Umno in Terengganu, the victory might prove to be a challenge to the PR. The PAS is certainly now more powerful to negotiate with the Umno as the two parties have never made public their intention not to 'negotiate' a deal for the creation of an all 'Islamic' alliance to rule the country.
Source:MALAYSIAN NEWS
PAS won 2,631 majority. 28 parliament seats to go.
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Thanks Mr.Right,
ReplyDeleteFor visiting and commenting in my blog.
Congratulation to PAS.Other than that, I have no further comment for now.