PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional’s victory in the Nenggiri polls will become the catalyst for more successes for the coalition, says Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“With this mandate, we celebrate with full humility and realisation that the struggle is still long and the effort to restore the people’s confidence in Umno and BN will continue,” said the BN chairman.
Zahid also expressed his gratitude to the voters who trusted BN to serve the constituency again and to the party machinery in the Nenggiri by-election.
The Election Commission (EC) had earlier announced Barisan candidate Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani’s win with a 3,352-majority against PAS candidate Mohd Rizwadi Ismail.
Mohd Azmawi garnered 9,091 votes against Mohd Rizwadi’s 5,739 votes.
This is the first by-election since the 15th General Election in which the incumbent party lost to a challenger.
The EC also announced that voter turnout for the Nenggiri by-election was 73.88%, 135 ballots were rejected and three ballots were not returned.
The Nenggiri by-election was triggered on June 19, when Mohd Azizi Abu Naim ceased to be a member of Bersatu, leaving the seat vacant.
In the state elections last year, Mohd Azizi, who contested using the PAS logo, defeated Barisan candidate Ab Aziz Yusoff with a slim majority of 810 votes.
