BN RETAINS MAHKOTA STATE SEAT WITH LANDSLIDE WIN

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

Syed Hussien, the Kluang UMNO youth chief and representing the Unity Government, garnered 27,995 votes, comfortably 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 tonight.

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 per cent, she added.

The victory was celebrated by political leaders from Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH), who accompanied Syed Hussien, 40, to the hall at 8.46 pm 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 MP Wong Shu Qi, who also acted as the PH coordinator for the by-election in Kluang.

The huge majority secured by BN today was the result of cooperation between the component parties in the Unity Government, far surpassing the majority obtained by their candidate in the State Election (PRN) two years ago. At that time, Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain won with a majority of 5,166 votes.

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

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

Polling took place today at 20 polling stations, while early voting was held last Tuesday, with postal ballots having been issued on September 15.

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

-- BERNAMA