SHAH ALAM - Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Azman Abdullah has won the Serkam state seat in the 16th Melaka State Election with a majority of 12,689 votes.
Azman secured 14,632 votes, defeating Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Along Faiq, who received 1,943 votes and Parti Bersama Malaysia (Bersama) candidate Muhamad Saffie, who garnered 425 votes.
All three candidates were first-time contestants in Serkam, but came from different backgrounds and brought different approaches to the race.
Azman, 54, was BN's new face in the constituency but was no stranger to local politics, having spent more than a decade working alongside elected representatives and serving residents.
The Kampung Tedong native previously served as a special officer to the Melaka Chief Minister from 2024 to 2026. He was also Tedong Umno chief and deputy Jasin Umno division chief.
About 90.7 per cent of Serkam's voters are Malay, while 5.1 per cent are Chinese and 2.9 per cent are Indian.
The contest was notable because BN narrowly retained the seat in the 2021 Melaka state election, winning by just 79 votes against Perikatan Nasional's candidate.
Zaidi secured 5,038 votes, narrowly defeating PN candidate Ustaz Haji Ahmad Bilal, who received 4,959 votes.
However, Zaidi did not defend the seat this time, leaving BN to field Azman to retain the constituency against two challengers seeking to end its hold on Serkam.
The election follows the dissolution of the 28-seat Melaka State Legislative Assembly on Sept 23, with nomination day held on Oct 31 and early voting conducted on Nov 10.
In the previous state election in 2021, BN secured 21 seats, followed by PH with five and Perikatan Nasional (PN) with two.