BN retains Rompin, majority reduced by almost half
By MOHD FARHAN DARWIS
Published: 5 May 2015 8:52 PM
Datuk Hasan Arifin (third from left) celebrates his win in the Rompin by-election with Umno leaders - (from left) party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, party vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, May 5, 2015.Barisan Nasional (BN) today comfortably retained the Rompin parliamentary seat in the by-election for the Pahang southeastern constituency, albeit with a much lower majority.
BN’s Datuk Hasan Arifin defeated PAS’s Nazri Ahmad with a majority of 8,895, the Election Commission (EC) announced at 10.23pm.
Hasan obtained 23,796 votes while Nazri obtained 14,901, in a by-election that saw a 73% turnout when polls closed at 5pm earlier today. There were 591 spoilt votes.
According to Bernama, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that the party would conduct a post-mortem on the reduced majority.
Muhyiddin, who is also BN election director for Permatang Pauh and Rompin by-elections, expressed his thanks and gratitude to the BN election machinery for ensuring victory for BN's candidate.
"I hope that Datuk Hasan will continue carrying out efforts initiated by Tan Sri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis in providing the best service for the people in Rompin and in further developing the constituency," Bernama quoted him as saying.
He added that the party would remain committed to fulfilling all its promises made during the campaign for the by-election.
Bernama also reported that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak congratulated Hasan, writing in his (Najib's) Facebook account that although the majority was lower than in the last general election, the BN would heed the lessons to work even harder in future.
In 2013, the late Tan Sri Jalamuddin Jarjis won the seat with a 15,114 majority in another straight fight against PAS’s Nuridah Mohd Salleh.
85.5% of the 53,596 registered voters in the constituency turned out for the 2013 elections.
87 % of the voters are Malay, followed by the Orang Asli, 9 % Indians and only 2 % Chinese.
A majority of the voters come from some 14 Felda settlements in the constituency.
Hasan, 62, formerly served as Pahang’s deputy menteri besar between 1995 to 1999, and was a four-term state assemblyman in Pahang for the Tioman and Bukit Ibam state constituencies.
The by-election was called after Jamaluddin, a six-term MP for Rompin and a close friend of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was killed in a helicopter crash near Semenyih, Selangor, on April 4, while returning from the wedding reception for Najib’s daughter in Pekan.
Jamaluddin, who formerly also served as the Malaysian envoy to the United States, was 63 years old.
PAS’s campaign in the by-election was greatly hindered by a lack of support from their Pakatan Rakyat partners PKR and DAP. – May 5, 2015.
