BN wins in Kuala Besut with bigger majority

Barisan Nasional retains the Kuala Besut state constituency with a bigger majority

(NST) – BESUT: Barisan Nasional (BN) retained the Kuala Besut state seat when its candidate Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman was declared the winner at the Besut Municipal Council Hall here tonight.

The former Drainage and Irrigation Department civil engineer garnered  8,288 votes against Pas candidate, businessman Endot@Azlan Yusof who managed to get  5,696 votes.

The victory means BN increased its majority to  2,592 votes from the 2,434 votes won by late Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar in the 13th general election on May 5.
 
The by-election also saw BN winning all eight polling areas, including the two it narrowly lost to Pas namely Kg Nangka and Bukit Puteri.
 
BN squashed Pas hope of creating an upset and a hung state assembly with both BN and the opposition having 16 seats each.
 
The 1,500 odd BN supporters shouted ‘Hidup BN’ and ‘Gelombang Biru’ when the winner’s name was announced by returning officer A.Rahim Jusoh.
 
BN only has a two seat majority in the 32-seat state assembly after the 13th general election.
 
Pas has set their campaign on the opportunity for the Kuala Besut to create history and set the BN government in a difficult situation with a hung state assembly.

Altough it was a working day today, a total of 14,108 voters or 79.76 per cent came out to cast their vote, about five per cent higher than the Election Commission’s earlier estimate.

The figures include the 911 early votes received on July 20.