GEORGE TOWN: Ramkarpal Singh won the Bukit Gelugor by-election yesterday by a thundering 37,697-vote majority, unofficial results showed.

He polled 41,244 votes, while Parti Cinta Malaysia’s Datuk Huan Cheng Guan obtained 3,548 votes. Independents Mohamed Nabi Bux Mohd Sathar got 772 while Abu Backer Sidek Mohammad Zan obtained 221 votes. There were 542 spoilt votes.

This means all three of Ramkarpal’s opponents lost their deposits.

However, as the DAP had feared, voter apathy due to prevailing opinion that Ramkarpal would sweep the seat led to a rather low  turnout of 56.04%.

This came about as the MCA, which traditionally represents Barisan Nasional (BN) in contesting this seat, stayed away this time.

Only 46,099 of the 82,000-odd registered voters here cast their ballots.

The announcement was made by DAP by-election communications director Ng Wei Aik at the party’s operation centre, sending ripples through the neighbourhood in Jalan Masjid Negeri.

The by-election had been called following the death of Karpal in a tragic road crash where the Toyota Alphard he was being driven in collided with a five-tonne lorry along the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempuring at 1.10am on April 17.

His assistant Michael Cornelius also died in the accident.

Incidentally, Ramkarpal who was in the same vehicle, survived the accident and has now taken over from his father.

The immediate impact of the DAP victory will be to provide significant encouragement for the party’s 27-year-old candidate in the upcoming Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

That by-election is scheduled for next Saturday following the death of the MP there, Seah Leong Peng of DAP.

Dyana Sofya faces BN’s Datuk Mah Siew Keong, who is Gerakan president, in a straight fight.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 26, 2014.