PAS claims ‘unfair rules’ for Tenang loss

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang claimed today that the party’s loss in Tenang was due to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) well-oiled election budget and an “unfair” election process.

He said today that despite PAS’s loss, the Islamist party remained undeterred and would work harder to gain more voter support in the future.

“We will continue to execute an effective strategy to increase our capability and efficiency in the next election.

“For too long we have faced Umno-BN who are always armed with a limitless federal budget and a biased media, as well as an unfair playing field in terms of election rules,” Hadi (picture)said in a statement.

He said that every by-election needed to be fair; every competing party needed to given an equal opportunity to campaign.

“There has to be a fair election as well as its process... from corruption involving lucrative projects which only appear during the campaigning period,” said Hadi.

Barisan Nasional (BN) retained the Tenang seat last night with a 3,707-vote majority, short of the 5,000-vote majority the ruling coalition had expected from the Umno stronghold.

BN’s Azahar Ibrahim polled 6,699 votes against PAS’s Normala Sudirman, who took 2,992 votes from the 12 polling districts.

A total of 9,833 voters or 67 per cent of the 14,753-strong electorate turned up to cast their ballots despite the rain.

BN had initially targeted a victory margin of 5,000 votes. It retained Tenang in 2008 by 2,491 votes, half the majority obtained in 2004.

The Tenang seat fell vacant when incumbent Datuk Sulaiman Taha died last December 17 due to complications with diabetes. - Malaysian Insider