PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has alleged that the extraordinary voter turnout in Terengganu in Sunday's polls was a factor in their humiliating defeat.

"We have conducted surveys in villages, we have studied the number of ballot boxes but the voter turnout is more than we expected," he said.

He also claimed that the high voter turnout was more than the number of local residents, strongly hinting that voters from outside the state were brought in to vote.

Indeed, Terengganu recorded the highest increase in voter turnout in the recently concluded general election.

The state registered a voter turnout of 86.94 percent, an increase of 5.48 percent as compared to the 81.46 percent voter turnout in 1999.

Four seats recorded an astounding voter turnout of over 90 percent - parliamentary seat Dungun (90.12), state seats Teluk Pasu (90.17), Telemung (90.33) and Kijal (90.10).

However, Terengganu state election officer Mohd Noor Daud ruled out any possibilities of phantom voters taking part in Sunday's polls.

He described such claims as baseless and are being circulated by certain groups to create unnecessary confusion.

"We did not receive any complaints from the candidates or their agents during the eight-day campaign period," Mohd Noor was quoted as saying in Bernama.

Noticeable growth

The voter turnout in Terengganu topped the country in both 1999 and 2004 elections, which is about 10 percent above the national average.

PAS performed miserably in Terengganu on Sunday when they retained only four of the 32 state seats.

The party also failed to defend any of the eight parliamentary seats it wrested from BN in 1999.

In 1999, PAS took power by sweeping the state with 27 seats and confining Umno to just four seats. Ally Keadilan won one.

Other states that recorded a noticeable growth in the percentage of voters voting this year are Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan, all hotly contested by PAS.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur recorded a drop of 4.18 percent in voter turnout, mostly concentrated in Batu (-5.24 percent), Wangsa Maju (-7.49 percent), Seputeh (-11.29percent) and Cheras (-7.03 percent).