State polls: Pakatan candidate accepts defeat in Paroi

Photo: Bernama

SEREMBAN: The journey continues even though I lost, says Pakatan Harapan’s Norwani Ahmat.

The candidate for the Paroi seat, when contacted, said the voters had spoken and she accepted the results.

“I am okay with the results and I have spoken to my team last night. We must accept this as this is democracy,” she said, adding the results would not damper her spirits.

The Rembau Amanah chief, who obtained 18,301 votes, lost to Perikatan Nasional’s Kamarol Ridzuan Mohd Zin, who bagged 23,840 votes. Independent Shakir Fitri only garnered 944 votes.

On Norwani's first thoughts on why the result went the way it did, she said that losses in the early voting channels were a factor.

“Based on our initial analysis, we lost the early and postal votes. Not just me in Paroi but nationwide as well the results showed this.

“Perhaps there hasn’t been enough time for the initiatives by the unity government to be fully felt and accepted by those serving in the Armed Forces and police,” she said.

However she downplayed the narrative that the coalition had lost some of its voting base.

“However when compared to the last elections, it shows that Pakatan voters are still with us. Yes I was surprised by the results but Pakatan is still here.

“We lost but we have room to improve here in Paroi. For the time being I plan to continue my freelance work and maybe form partnerships with non-governmental organisations here,” she added.

She said the lower turnout could have contributed negatively as well.

“Yes it could have been a factor. The public could have felt that there would not have been any changes so why go out to vote.

“But as we can see every vote counts,” she said.