GE15: Big names fall in the east

KUALA TERENGGANU: A surprising turn of events in the 15th General Election saw some prominent names in politics fall in the peninsula's east coast.

Former Terengganu mentri besar and state Barisan Nasional chief Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Said suffered a big blow, losing by 27,179 votes to PAS’ Che Alias Hamid in the Kemaman parliamentary seat.

Ahmad Said only mustered 38,535 votes against incumbent MP Che Alias' 65,714.

Meanwhile, Perikatan Nasional wrested the Gua Musang seat from Barisan with a razor-thin majority of 163 votes polled by Mohd Azizi Abu Naim, beating longtime incumbent Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah of Barisan.

Tengku Razaleigh is Barisan's longest-serving MP and Gua Musang was long regarded as its stronghold.

In Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, PAS candidate Datuk Dr Alias Razak was ahead of four other candidates, including the incumbent Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali who contested on a Barisan ticket.

Alias was far ahead with 56,697 votes with votes still being counted close to midnight on Saturday (Nov 19) while Mohd Khairuddin had 26,932 votes.

Mohd Khairuddin, a former Plantation Industries and Commodities minister, left PAS in March after a fallout with the Islamist party for dropping him from its central committee in January.

In GE15, he contested as a "direct candidate" for Barisan.