By-election in Kuala Besut crucial as it will decide fate of Terengganu

 

(The Star) – The vacancy in the Kuala Besut state seat has left Terengganu Barisan Nasional in a precarious position because failure to retain the seat will result in a hung legislative assembly.

Should that happen, the state legislative assembly may have to be dissolved to make way for fresh state elections.

In the 13th general election, Barisan was returned to power, forming the state government with 17 seats in the assembly a mere two-seat advantage over Pakatan Rakyat’s 15.

With the death of Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar (pic), a by-election needs to be held, and the battle for Kuala Besut will be a do-or-die outing for Barisan since Pakatan would want to seize the opportunity to shake the ruling government.

Political analyst Prof Datuk Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak said in the event that the by-election result is not in Barisan’s favour, Terengganu would be left with a hung state assembly, with the coalition and Pakatan having 16 seats each.

“If this happens, the Sultan may give the opportunity to Barisan, which is the present ruling administration, to form the government by getting the majority support from the state assemblymen.

“If they fail, the Ruler will then give a similar opportunity to Pakatan. But if both fail, the state legislative assembly will have to be dissolved and a fresh round of elections will have to be held for the state.

“In other words, the Kuala Besut by-election is very crucial as it will decide the fate of Terengganu,” he said.

In the May 5 elections, Dr Rahman polled 8,809 votes to PAS’ Napisah Ismail’s 6,375 for a winning majority of 2,434. There were 144 spoilt votes. The constituency has 17,713 voters.

Prof Dr Mohamed, who is National Council of Professors head of Politics, Security and International Affairs cluster, said a hung assembly would result in crisis as neither party could claim it has the mandate to run the state.

He said what was certain was that Pakatan would put up a good fight and Barisan had better be prepared to defend the seat.

Meanwhile, Terengganu Umno information chief Datuk Razif Abdul Rahman said Barisan would do all it could to prevent a hung state assembly.

“Kuala Besut is a known Umno stronghold, but we will not take things easy.

“A hung state assembly will be a tragedy, thus we must do all we can to ensure a convincing win,” he said when contacted.

Razif said the candidate chosen for the by-election would be of the same calibre as Dr Rahman.

“Taking things for granted is out of the question as there is too much at stake. Ample preparation must be made to honour the memory of Dr Rahman,” he said.