It's official! Barisan Nasional wins Pelangai polls

BENTONG - The Pelangai by-election has closed its curtain with Barisan Nasional (BN) retaining its hold onto the state seat, as the coalition's candidate Datuk Amizar Abu Adam emerged victorious in a three-way electoral bout with a majority of 2,949 votes.

Amizar won the contest, securing 7,324 votes against Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Kasim Samat who garnered 4,375 votes and independent candidate Haslihelmy DM Zulhasni who only earned a meagre amount of 47 votes.

The result was annouced by Election Commission (EC) Pelangai polls director Datuk Mohd Shahid Ismail at 9:08PM today, at the Felda Kemasul public hall where the final tally of ballots were counted.

With the victory the electoral representation in the Pahang state assembly remained status quo with BN maintaining its 17 seats followed by PN that also has 17 seats and Pakatan Harapan (PH) which has eight seats.

In Pahang, BN managed to assume the seat of power because of its partnership with PH that had ultimately earned the two coalitions the right to govern the east coast state.

The Pelangai by-election stirred speculation about power shifts, as Pahang lacks anti-party hopping laws; a PN victory could potentially prompt BN assemblymen to switch sides in the state.

Interestingly, PN's defeat at the polls meant that this was Kasim's second trouncing here in Pelangai as he had in last year's 15th General Election contested under PN's banner for the seat and loss to the late former assemblyman Datuk Seri Johari Harun.

On another note, BN's triumph in the Pelangai polls came against the backdrop of the severe electoral thrashing at previous state polls in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan on August 12.

The Pelangai by-election needed to be called due to the death of Johari who perished in the infamous Elmina plane crash in Shah Alam, Selangor, on August 17.

According to EC's statistics, Pelangai has 16,456 registered voters.