KAJANG (Mar 23): As widely expected, PKR’s president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail emerged victorious in the Kajang by-election, retaining the state seat for her party after a 12-day intense and colourful campaigning.
The 62-year old eye specialist and wife of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim grabbed 16,741 votes, outnumbering 11,362 votes won by Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, 50, who is a MCA vice-president and former reporter of China Press.
This means that Wan Azizah had won by a majority of 5,379 votes, according to Bernama News Agency.
The results were announced by the returning officer, Datuk Hassan Nawani Abdul Rahman, after 9.00 pm at the MPKj Sports Complex in Bangi, near Kajang.
Compared to the majority of 6,824 votes previously took home by political unknown Lee Chin Cheh of PKR, the majority gained by Wan Azizah today was small -- given her status and position in the party.
In the last general election in May 2013, the voter turnout for the state constituency was 88%. Lee, who garnered 19,571 votes, won with a 6,824 majority. BN's candidate Lee Ban Seng received 12,747 votes.
The state seat was made vacant by Lee on Jan 27 this year, originally to pave way for PKR’s de facto leader Anwar to contest and possibly become the next Mentri Besar of Selangor. But due to Anwar’s March 7 conviction in a court case, his wife had to undertake this important task for the party.
But the move by PKR to create a by-election, widely seen as abuse of the democratic process, has failed to win the hearts and minds of many thinking supporters of PKR and other opposition parties.
This disapproval, coupled with the running news of the missing plane MH370 which has attracted unabated international attention, could have resulted in lower interest shown towards Kajang. The Beijing-bound plane has gone missing since March 8 and 25 countries are involved in search and rescue efforts.
A total of 28,314 voters turned out today to vote, out of 39,278 eligible and registered voters, according to the Election Commission (EC) in an earlier press conference. This comprised 72% of the total registered voters, compared to 88% turnout in the last state election.
Disagreement with PKR aside, many people also saw this by-election as a “sure win” for Wan Azizah. Due to this overwhelming view, the by-election became an “interesting but unexciting” event in Kajang.
The EC chief, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, had also told reporters the voter turnout at Kajang by-election today was lower than the previous by-elections held in Kedah and Terengganu.
But despite the intense campaigning, no major clashes had been reported for the whole day.
"Overall, the by-election was conducted in an orderly manner. There were no untoward incidences," said EC chairman Abdul Aziz. "The weather today is good despite it being a hot day.”