Unofficial results: Barisan Nasional wins Chini by-election

(The Star) – Barisan Nasional’s Mohd Sharim Md Zain looks set to be the new state assemblyman for Chini.

Unofficial results as at 7.30pm Saturday (July 4) showed that he had obtained 10,143 votes, a 9,258 vote lead ahead of the two Independent candidates challenging him in this by-election.

The seat fell vacant after the four-term incumbent Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Harun died of a heart attack on May 6.

In the 14th General Election, Abu Bakar retained the seat by beating Mohd Fadhil Noor Abdul Karim of PAS and PKR’s Mohamad Razali Ithnain with a majority of 4,622 votes.

Voter turnout then was 79.05%.

The Chini by-election was the 11th to be called since the last general election in May 2018.

It is the 11th by-election after GE14 and the first for the Perikatan Nasional government after taking over the country’s administration from Pakatan Harapan in March.

The by-election is making history as the first election in the “new normal” due to the Covid-19 pandemic and involves various restrictions to avoid creating a “by-election cluster”.