KLUANG — The Election Commission (EC) has confirmed Barisan Nasional’s (BN) win in the Mahkota by-election, with its candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah retaining the seat for the coalition by a handsome majority of 20,648 votes.
Syed Hussien, 40, who is Kluang Umno Youth chief, won 27,995 votes, leaving his sole rival Mohamad Haizan Jaafar, 61, from Perikatan Nasional (PN), in the dust with 7,347 votes.
Bernama reports that the official results were announced by elections officer Azurawati Wahid at the EC’s vote-tallying centre at Dewan Tunku Ibrahim Ismail here tonight.
339 other ballot papers were rejected while 24 were not returned.
Azurawati also announced that voter turnout for the by-election was 53.84%.
The total number of registered voters in the seat is 66,318, which means that after combining Syed Hussien’s and Haizan’s votes, just over half the electorate had cast their ballots.
Mahkota’s voter turnout is also the lowest in the four by-elections held this year, to date.
The previous by elections and their respective voter turnout were Kuala Kubu Baharu on May 11 (61.51%), Sg Bakap on July 6 (63.45%) and Nenggiri on August 17 (73.88%).
The Mahkota poll was called following the death of its incumbent, Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, 63, on August 2.
Sharifah Azizah, of BN, won the seat in the 2022 state election with a majority of 5,166 votes in a four-cornered fight involving Pakatan Harapan (PH), PN and Warisan candidates. – September 28, 2024