Sg Limau by-election: PAS retains seat with reduced majority
Mohd Azam waves to journalists just be the official announcement was made that he had won at SM Agama Yan. Starpix by G.C TAN
YAN: PAS has retained the Sungai Limau state seat with a reduced majority of 1,084 votes.
Its candidate, Mohd Azam Abd Samat, 32, garnered 12,069 votes against Barisan Nasional's Dr Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim, 52, who polled 10,985 votes.
In the May general election, Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak of PAS retained the seat for the fifth term in a four-cornered fight with a 2,774-vote majority.
The result of the by-election, which was announced by returning officer Abdul Rashid Othman at the counting centre at the Lukman Al-Hakim Hall, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Yan here, saw PAS' majority being halved.
Of the 23,249 votes cast today, 145 of them were spoilt votes.
With the victory, PAS maintains its stranglehold in the constituency since 1995 general election.
The votes obtained by Mohd Azam dropped by 1,225 or 9.2% of the votes garnered by Azizan.
Voter turnout today also dropped by 1,100 voters or 4.5% compared to 24,349 voters in May.
Mohd Azam, when approached by reporters after the results were announced, said he was grateful to the party machinery and PAS' partners in the opposition pact for their hard work in securing the victory for him.
He pledged to focus on the welfare of the constituents.
Earlier, PAS supporters gathered at the PAS main operations centre in Padang Lunar here when it was clear that Mohd Azam had won.
The unofficial result was announced by PAS officials.
As Mohd Azam walked out of the centre clad in a green batik, he was cheered, kissed and hugged by the supporters.
"Thank you to all the voters," he said to the press before rushing to the tallying centre at SMK Agama Yan with other PAS leaders.
As Mohd Azam walked out of the centre clad in a green batik, he was cheered, kissed and hugged by the supporters.
"Thank you to all the voters," he said to the press before rushing to the tallying centre at SMK Agama Yan with other PAS leaders.
Earlier, despite the massive traffic jam which started since the 17 polling stations opened at 8am that continued throughout the day, some 23,249 voters (85.5%) managed to cast their votes as at 5pm.
The stations have closed and the vote-tallying process has started with the official result expected after 9pm.
The contest for the Sungai Limau state seat is between Dr Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim of Barisan Nasional and Mohd Azam Abdul Samat of PAS.The seat fell vacant following the death of its five-term assemblyman Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak of PAS.
Azizan was also the mentri besar of Kedah when it was under PAS rule for one term when the opposition won Kedah in the 2008 general election.
The Sungai Limau state constituency has 27,222 voters, 25,323 or 93.02 per cent of them Malays, 1,842 or 6.76 per cent (Chinese), 15 or 0.055 per cent (Indians) and 42 or 0.15 per cent other races.
THE STAR
