Permatang Pauh by-election, 2015

A by-election was held for the Dewan Rakyat seat of Permatang Pauh on 7 May following the nomination day on 25 April 2015.[1] The seat fell vacant after member of parliament Anwar Ibrahim was disqualified from holding his seat after being found guilty of sodomy in a highly controversial trial.[2] Anwar Ibrahim was a member of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat and leader of the opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat. In the 2013 general election, Anwar won the seat with a majority of 11,721 votes beating Mazlan Ismail of Barisan Nasional.[3]

The Permatang Pauh by-election was contested by 4 candidates, consisting of former opposition leader, Anwar's political puppet and MP Wan Azizah Wan Ismail from PKR, UMNO's Suhaimi Sabudin, PRM's Azman Shah Othman and independent candidate Salleh Isahak.[4] There were reports saying that PRM has denied that Azman Shah Othman is a member of their party.[5][6]

Campaign

Several issues dominate the by-election campaign, with the recently introduced GST being the main issue.[7]

An UMNO branch in Permatang Pauh dissolved during the campaign period, citing neglect by party leadership.[8]

Results

Dr Wan Azizah retained the seat for PR with a majority of just below 9 thousand votes.[9] Mirroring the trend shown in the Rompin by-election two days before, turnout dropped by more than 10% in Permatang Pauh. The lower turnout also means while PKR's majority is lower, their share of popular vote is practically unchanged.[10]

Dewan Rakyat: Permatang Pauh by-election, 2015
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Pakatan Rakyat Wan Azizah Wan Ismail 30,316 58.01 Decrease1.18
Barisan Nasional Suhaimi Sabudin 21,475 41.09 Increase0.60
Independent Salleh Isahak 367 0.70 N/A
PRM Azman Shah Othman 101 0.19 N/A
Rejected ballots 843 1.58 Increase0.52
Majority 8,841 16.92 Decrease1.78
Turnout 53,198 74.00 Decrease14.33
Pakatan Rakyat hold Swing Decrease0.89

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.