'Big spending BN is the big loser in Kuala Besut'

Spending close to RM500 million to get a mere 158 votes increase in the Kuala Besut by-election which concluded yesterday was a huge setback for BN, said DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang.

“PAS has secured a respectable result in the Kuala Besut by-election as nobody really expects the UMNO-BN candidate to lose in their stronghold,” said Lim, the Gelang Patah MP.

He also referred to UMNO deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin's admission that BN had failed to achieve its target of a 4000-votes majority.

BN's Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman secured 8,288 votes against PAS's Azlan Yusuf who polled 5,696 votes, winning the seat by a majority of 2,592 votes, 158 votes more than what BN got just over two months earlier in the May 5 polls.

There was however a 7 percent drop in voters’ turnout compared to the May 5 election.

Lim said the lower turnout was due to polling day being fixed on a working day, adding that more outstation voters could have further slashed BN's majority.

PAS Youth chief and Temerloh MP Nasrudin Hassan shared Lim’s sentiment.

He said failure to achieve 4,000 votes majority after spending hundreds of millions of ringgit showed BN was losing its influence as well as to pointing to a more discerning rural electorate.

“If this scenario continues, then PAS Youth is optimistic that change will occur at the 14th general election,” he added.

- Harakahdaily