Najib hails by-election victory
Published: Jan 29, 2007 1:16 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
Malaysia's ruling coalition has hailed a landslide by-election victory - in the face of fears over an opposition poll boycott - as a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Although we had to face challenges recently, it is evident that these had not undermined the people's support for the BN government, says the deputy prime minister.
Malaysia's ruling coalition has hailed a landslide by-election victory - in the face of fears over an opposition poll boycott - as a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition's candidate, Abdul Aziz Mat Kiram, won 6,276 votes compared with just 419 votes for independent Ng Chee Pang in the rural seat of Batu Talam in central Pahang state.
The margin of 5,857 was greater than the targeted majority of 3,000 by the ruling coalition, which feared a poor turnout after two leading opposition parties boycotted the poll alleging bias and possible vote fraud.
"Although we had to face challenges recently, it is evident that these had not undermined the people's support for the BN government," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said late Sunday after the results.
"Instead, the support for the government has grown stronger following the victory in Batu Talam," he was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.
Pahang has long been a BN stronghold, and a win had been more or less assured for the coalition.
But the rare opposition boycott saw political commentators on the lookout for a reduced majority and poor turnout as indicators of dwindling support for the ruling coalition.
The opposition tactic forced the coalition's members, including Abdullah, to urge voters to turn out because they feared polls would be shunned.
"This time around, we were faced with a unique situation whereby the opposition parties had declared their boycott of the by-election and tried to persuade the voters not to go to the polls," said Najib.
"With a percentage voter turnout of 67.32 percent, we can clearly state that their intention to boycott the by-election was not accepted by the voters of Batu Talam," he said.
The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition's candidate, Abdul Aziz Mat Kiram, won 6,276 votes compared with just 419 votes for independent Ng Chee Pang in the rural seat of Batu Talam in central Pahang state.
The margin of 5,857 was greater than the targeted majority of 3,000 by the ruling coalition, which feared a poor turnout after two leading opposition parties boycotted the poll alleging bias and possible vote fraud. "Although we had to face challenges recently, it is evident that these had not undermined the people's support for the BN government," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said late Sunday after the results.
"Instead, the support for the government has grown stronger following the victory in Batu Talam," he was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.
Pahang has long been a BN stronghold, and a win had been more or less assured for the coalition.
But the rare opposition boycott saw political commentators on the lookout for a reduced majority and poor turnout as indicators of dwindling support for the ruling coalition.
The opposition tactic forced the coalition's members, including Abdullah, to urge voters to turn out because they feared polls would be shunned.
"This time around, we were faced with a unique situation whereby the opposition parties had declared their boycott of the by-election and tried to persuade the voters not to go to the polls," said Najib.
"With a percentage voter turnout of 67.32 percent, we can clearly state that their intention to boycott the by-election was not accepted by the voters of Batu Talam," he said.
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