KUALA LUMPUR, 10 May 2018:
The just-concluded 14th general election (GE14) – which saw Malaysian voters heralding in a historic change in the ruling coalition – had Pakatan Harapan obtain just shy of the 148 two-thirds majority in parliament needed to guarantee enough to push through constitutional amendments.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) won 104 of the 222 parliamentary seats while Barisan Nasional (BN) won 79. Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said PAS won 18 seats, followed by DAP (nine), Warisan (eight), Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (one). Three other seats were won by independent candidates.
GE14 also saw the Damansara parliamentary seat creating history when it recorded the highest majority nationwide with 106,903 votes.
The winner (Damansara used to be known as Petaling Jaya Utara) Tony Pua of PKR won 121, 283 votes compared to Ho Kwok Xheng BN who received only 14,380 votes. Another candidate, Wong Mun Kheng (PRM) got 617 votes.
The Damansara parliamentary seat is also the seat with the most number of registered voters, at 146,322 after the re-delineation exercise of the constituencies was approved by Dewan Rakyat last March.
The smallest majority votes was recorded in the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seat in Penang. Its incumbent Datuk Shabudin Yahaya was only able to defend the seat with 81 majority votes after winning 18,547 votes.
His challenger Marzuki Yahaya (PKR-Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) (PPBM) and Rizal Hafiz Ruslan (PAS) each received 18,466 and 14,891 votes respectively.
Shabudin’s performance this time was far different from that in GE13 where he won a 3,042-vote majority in a three-cornered fight.
The GE14, which was dubbed the most intense GE contested in the history of Malaysia, would also be remembered by all Malaysians when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was returned as prime minister for the second time.
He had previously served as the fourth prime minister for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. Dr Mahathir, who was 93 years old when he contested in the Langkawi parliamentary seat, was also the oldest GE candidate to contest.
If Dr Mahathir was the oldest candidate, independent candidate, 22-year-old law student P. Prabakaran, was the youngest member of Parliament. Prabakaran defeated three other challengers to win the Batu parliamentary seat by grabbing 38,125 votes.
For state governments, nine had seen clear winners with at least a simple majority. The states are Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Pahang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor.
The formation of state government in Perak, Kedah and Sabah is seen as hanging as there was no party which obtained the simple majority.
For 60 state seats in Sabah, Barisan Nasional won 29, PKR (two), DAP (six) , Parti Warisan Sabah (21) and Parti SolidarityTanah Airku won two seats.
From the 36 state seats contested in Kedah, PKR captured 18 seats, PAS won 15 seats and BN (three) while in Perak, PKR won 29 seats, BN (27) and PAS (three) from an a overall of 59 seats.
PKR needed at least one more state seat to form the state government with a simple majority in Perak and Kedah.
EC deputy chairman Tan Sri Othman Mahmood said the commission could only announce the number of seats of won by parties but could not decide on which party eligible to form the state government.
“It depends on the respective to discuss. We cannot decide who should form the state government.”
PKR has captured states on the west coast to form the government the state government, namely Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor.
– Bernama