Kuala Besut decider on Terengganu legislature, PAS fortunes

Kuala Besut voters will decide today on two issues, whether to keep the Barisan Nasional (BN) as the Terengganu state government or support PAS for a hung state assembly and revive its fortunes after a poor showing in Election 2013.

Polling stations open at 8am and close at 5pm today for the 17,679 voters in the state constituency. Some 3,000 policemen are on duty to ensure peace in the by-election called after the death of incumbent assemblyman Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar on June 26.

The north-eastern pocket of Terengganu bordering Kelantan has been a pro-BN area except in 1999 when PAS won there. But the Islamist party hopes to make history by winning the state seat to equal BN's 16 seats in the 32-seat state assembly.

PAS has been harping on the 16-16 agenda since campaigning started on July 12 nomination day, but said it was not interested in the mentri besar seat as the party wanted to focus on being the balancing power in the state government led by BN.

The 12-day campaign period for Malaysia's first by-election since the May 5 polls has seen PAS candidate Endut @ Azlan Yusof making some ground against BN's Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman.

This has been seen as a campaign to reverse its fortunes after the 13th general election which saw PAS only getting 21 federal seats, down two from the 23 it gained in Election 2008.

In the last day of campaigning yesterday, however, both parties pulled the same tactic by lodging reports over fake messages using the name of their representatives.

Although a survey by local pollsters Ilham Centre from July 18 to 21 showed Azlan was leading with 71% compared to BN's Zaihan's 14%, the reality may not be in the PAS candidate's favour.

Analysts said its due to the PAS candidate being silent preferring to let the party leadership to make comments after comments throughout the campaign on his behalf.

He was given a gag order after his statement was manipulated by the mainstream media, a party source told The Malaysian Insider.

Zaihan, meanwhile, was seen as someone who is not afraid to voice out his opinion and seemed to be warmed to the media.

Both sides had also brought in influential leaders such as PKR de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and BN deputy chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to help the candidates in securing more votes for their parties.

BN has also promised millions in federal aid for the state seat, which is known as the gateway to the resort islands of Redang and Perhentian but suffers from heavy silting at its river mouth.

It has been estimated that BN's promised aid amounts to RM19,000 per voter in the constituency.

But PAS hopes to steal the seat from BN after a series of defeats since 1999, while BN believes its fierce campaigning can help repeat its victory in the 13th general election.

In the May 5 general election, BN won by a 2,434 majority and analysts say Kuala Besut is the ruling coalition's to lose.

The Election Commission (EC) said the results will be announced at 10pm.