BN recaptures Nenggiri seat with convincing majority

GUA MUSANG: Barisan Nasional (BN) recaptured the Nenggiri state seat when its candidate Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani won by a big majority of 3,352 votes in today’s by-election.

The Kelantan UMNO Youth chief polled 9,091 votes to beat PAS candidate Mohd Rizwadi Ismail, representing Perikatan Nasional (PN), who obtained 5,739 votes.

The results were announced by returning officer Nik Raisnan Daud at the vote-tallying centre at Dewan Perdana, Kompleks Perdana, Gua Musang District Council here tonight.

BN held the seat for four consecutive terms after it was first contested in 2004 but lost it to PN’s Mohd Azizi Abu Naim in the Kelantan state election in August last year.

Mohd Azizi, who contested under the PAS logo, defeated BN’s Ab Aziz Yusoff by a majority of 810 votes then.

Kelantan State Assembly Speaker Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah declared the seat vacant on June 19 after he was informed that Mohd Azizi had ceased to be a member of Bersatu on June 13.

The returning officer said 73.88 per cent of the 20,259 registered electors voted in the by-election, surpassing the Election Commission’s (EC) forecast of a 60 per cent voter turnout and the 61.09 per cent turnout registered in the last state election.

With Mohd Azmawi Fikri’s victory, the Unity Government now has three representatives in the Kelantan State Assembly, with the other two being Galas assemblyman Mohd Syahbuddin Hashim of BN and Kota Lama assemblyman Dr Hafidzah Mustakim of Pakatan Harapan (PH).

This is the ninth by-election following the 15th general election, with previous by-elections held in Kuala Terengganu and Kemaman (Terengganu); Simpang Jeram and Pulai (Johor); Pelangai (Pahang); Jepak (Sarawak); Kuala Kubu Baharu (Selangor); and Sungai Bakap (Penang).