KLUANG (Sept 28): Barisan Nasional (BN) retained the Mahkota state seat after its candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah secured a 20,648-vote majority win over the Perikatan Nasional (PN) challenger in the by-election on Saturday.

Syed Hussien, the Kluang Umno Youth chief who represented the unity government, garnered 27,995 votes, surpassing PN’s Mohamad Haizan Jaafar, who received 7,347 votes.

The official results were announced by returning officer Azurawati Wahid at the Mahkota by-election official vote tallying centre at Dewan Tunku Ibrahim Ismail here on Saturday night.

She also announced that 339 ballot papers were rejected, and 24 were not returned.

Azurawati thanked all parties for their cooperation throughout the by-election process, which began with nominations on Sept 14.

Voter turnout for the by-election stood at 53.84%, the returning officer added.

The victory was celebrated by political leaders from BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH), who accompanied Syed Hussien, 40, to the hall at 8.46pm to hear the official announcement of the by-election results.

Among those present were Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, who also served as the director for the Mahkota by-election, Umno secretary general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, Johor Umno deputy chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, and MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon.

Also in attendance were Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong, Johor PKR chairman Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, and Kluang Member of Parliament Wong Shu Qi, who also acted as the PH coordinator for the by-election in Kluang.

The majority secured by BN on Saturday far surpassed the majority obtained by its candidate in the state election two years ago. At that time, Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain won with a majority of 5,166 votes.

The Mahkota state by-election was held following the death of Sharifah Azizah, 63, on Aug 2. 

According to data from the Election Commission, the total number of voters in Mahkota stood at 66,318, of which 4,437 were early voters, including military personnel and their spouses, as well as police officers. Additionally, there were 607 postal voters.

Polling took place at 20 polling stations on Saturday, following early voting on Tuesday, with postal ballots having been issued on Sept 15.

Mahkota, located within the Kluang parliamentary constituency, has been contested since 2004, with five elections held, four of which were won by BN.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee