PETALING JAYA: The larger majority that Perikatan Nasional obtained in the Kemaman by-election compared to GE15's shows that Malay support for Barisan Nasional is eroding and shifting to Perikatan Nasional, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
"I extend my heartiest congratulations to Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar for his big win during the Kemaman by-election.
"This victory brought a majority of 37,220 votes, which is an increase of nearly 10,000 votes compared to the GE15 result.
"This is a clear sign that the support of the people is leaning strongly towards PAS and Perikatan Nasional in general.
"It also shows that the popularity of the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional government is wavering.
"The public, especially the Malays, are rejecting the partnership between the two coalitions," the Perikatan Nasional chairman said in a Facebook post on Sunday (Dec 3).
He added that the reduced majority for the Barisan candidate also showed the coalition's supporters were moving to PAS.
"This is a warning from voters to Barisan, especially Umno, to reconsider their partnership with Pakatan, " he said.
On Nov 2, PAS retained the Kemaman parliamentary seat resoundingly after garnering 64,998 votes, while Barisan's Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor polled 22,778 votes. Ahmad Samsuri's majority surpassed his predecessor's majority of 27,179 votes in GE15.