EC: PKR retains Permatang Pauh seat

BUKIT MERTAJAM: PKR has retained the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, according to the Election Commission.

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail took the seat with 30,316 votes, while nearest rival and BN candidate Suhaimi Sabudin had 21,475, in a reduced majority of 8,841 votes compared to the 11,721 obtained during the 13th general election.

Two other candidates - Parti Rakyat Malaysia's Azman Shah Othman, 50, and independent candidate Salleh Isahak, 53 - lost their deposits in the four-cornered fight, having gained just 101 votes and 367 votes respectively.

There were 843 spoilt votes.

Voter turnout was recorded at almost 74% or 53,145 voters, said the EC, lower than the last general election which had an 88.2% turnout or 62,660 voters.

The Permatang Pauh seat was declared vacant when its incumbent Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was disqualified as a Member of Parliament when the Pardons Board rejected an application for a royal pardon sought by his family over his conviction for sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Anwar, who is PKR adviser, had won the seat by a majority of 11,721 votes in the May 2013 general election.

He polled 37,090 votes while Mazlan Ismail of Barisan Nasional polled 25,369 votes.

Independent candidate Abdullah Zawawi Samsudin got just 201 votes then.

Wan Azizah, 63, is no stranger to the seat, having won it in 1999, 2004 and 2008. In 2008, however, she resigned several months after winning to enable Anwar to contest the seat and make a return to Parliament.