Monday May 6, 2013

GE13: BN scrapes through in Perak

From left: Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and Datuk Tajuddin Abd Rahman raising their hands in jubilant after Barisan's victory in Perak.

IPOH: Barisan Nasional scraped through in Perak with 31 state seats, defeating the opposition pact which collectively managed to secure 28 seats.

Perak Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir won his Pangkor state seat and may again be appointed as Mentri Besar.

He secured a healthy majority of 5,124 votes, after getting 12,291 votes to defeat PKR's Mohd Saifullah Mohd Zulkifli who received 7,167 votes while Independent Bernard Parenpa only managed 51 votes.

Barisan's victory was an indication that Perak voters were convinced by the people-friendly approach and policies introduced by the state government under Dr Zambry, who was appointed Mentri Besar four years ago.

Rural seats where the majority of voters are Malays have remained the backbone of Barisan, just as urban seats where Chinese voters formed the bulk of voters stayed true to DAP.

In fact, DAP made a clean sweep of the 18 seats it contested which were mostly in the Kinta Valley.

PAS and PKR were unable to match DAP's sterling performance in the state.

PAS, which contested 22 state seats, only managed to win five. PKR clinched five of the 19 seats it contested.

State Pakatan Rakyat chairman Datuk Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin of PAS won in Changkat Jering.

In 2008, DAP won all the 18 seats it contested, PAS took six seats and PKR (seven).

PAS contested in mainly Malay areas and PKR in Malay and mixed seats.

Barisan had lost the state in the 2008 general election after securing only 28 of the 59 state seats.

However, the Pakatan state government fell less than a year later after its three assemblymen Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang), Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Jelapang representative Hee Yit Foong switched camp and became Barisan-friendly Independents in 2009.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

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