PH’s Kerk youngest winner in Melaka polls, BN’s Rauf is oldest

 Both candidates were incumbents, with Kerk Chee Yee winning a third term in Ayer Keroh, while Ab Rauf Yusoh retains Tanjung Bidara for a second term.

DAP publicity secretary Kerk Chee Yee is 34, while BN state chairman Ab Rauf Yusoh is 65.

KUALA LUMPUR:

Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Kerk Chee Yee, 34, emerged as the youngest winner in the Melaka state election, while incumbent chief minister Ab Rauf Yusoh, 65, was the oldest.

Kerk polled 14,078 votes in a four-cornered contest for the Ayer Keroh state seat, defeating Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Gan Peng Lam (8,474 votes), Muhaimin Lau Abdullah of Bersama (1,932 votes), and Hamnaim Mohamad of Bersatu (1,077 votes).

Kerk, who has held the seat for the past two terms, won with a majority of 5,604 votes.

The Ayer Keroh state constituency, which has 38,252 registered vvoters, is one of four state seats under the Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary constituency.

Meanwhile, Rauf retained the Tanjung Bidara state seat after securing 10,079 votes to defeat PH candidate Yunazri Mustamiri, who garnered 1,464 votes in a straight fight.

The Melaka Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman defended the seat with a majority of 8,615 votes, up from a 364-vote majority in the 2021 state election.

Meanwhile, out of the 14 women candidates who contested in the Melaka state election, only four were winners – three from BN and one from PH.

The winning BN candidates are Tuminah Kadi @ Hashim in Pantai Kundor, Siti Aisyah Mahmood (Pengkalan Batu), and Khaidhirah Abu Zahar (Rim).

Tuminah defeated Bersatu candidate Asmah Samat with a majority of 2,752 votes after polling 8,864 votes against her challenger’s 6,112.

Siti Aisyah, the sole female candidate in Pengkalan Batu, won a four-cornered contest with a majority of 6,358 votes.

She defeated PH’s Jason Tze-xi Nathan (5,478 votes), Bersatu’s Norhizam Hassan Baktee (876 votes), and Bersama’s Goh Han Koon (618 votes).

Meanwhile, the incumbent Khaidhirah won in Rim with 9,847 votes to defeat PH’s Esma Eazreen Husin (2,757 votes) for a majority of 7,090 votes.

PH candidate Leng Chau Yen defended the Bandar Hilir seat after polling 9,942 votes, defeating BN’s Lok Huey Yee (2,085 votes) and Nor Rashidi Ab Jalil (1,315 votes) to win with a majority of 7,857 votes.

In the Melaka state election yesterday, BN won 21 of the 28 state seats to secure a two-thirds majority, while PH retained four seats and PN won three. - FMT