DPM believes BN is the real winner in Penanti
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin believes the low voter turnout in Penanti proves that Barisan National (BN) is still popular despite not fielding a candidate in the recent by-election.
He told reporters that the low voter turnout at Penanti was a clear sign that voters are bored and not interested in Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) tactics. “They have indirectly given a protest sign.”
“The candidate who won … his votes were lower than the previous candidate’s. If they were able get 7,000 votes previously, they should have been able to get 10,000 or more. I hope PKR won’t say that they are that great but they should show that without any candidates from BN, their vote counts should have had a higher percentage,” he explained.
Dr Mansor Othman yesterday won Penanti’s by-election with 6,052 out of the total of 7,100 votes.
Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, the previous Penanti assemblyman, won 7,346 votes in his electoral debut in Election 2008, winning by a majority of 2,219 against BN’s Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid.
Muhyiddin added that the election result showed BN’s decision not to contest was right on target and that the people do not like to be “played” by the democratic system practiced by PKR.
“The voters are knowledgeable enough and they are very qualified to make whatever assessments on whether the opposition were telling the truth or not. They campaigned not on what they want to do for the good of the electorate but more on what BN is doing. I think the signal is quite clear that the voters are fed-up. I do hope the PKR leadership will take a serious cue from the result of this by-election,” he said.
Muhyiddin also commented that BN will be deploying a new approach when campaigning in Manek Urai.
“There is a need for us to not only revamp but also introduce ways of how to deal with the voters, to mobilise the machinery to have the most impact. I do hope that these new approaches will have a better result,” he concluded.
The rural Kelantan state seat of Manek Urai became vacant on July 14 after its five-term assemblyman Ismail Yaacob from PAS died on May 22.
