World News Engine: Malaysia's BN wins two-thirds majority in Sarawak polls

Malaysia's BN wins two-thirds majority in Sarawak polls

Malaysia's ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) on Saturday clinched a two-thirds majority in the Sarawak state election, winning 55 out of the 71 seats at stake.

In the opposition camp, the DAP bagged 12 seats while the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) three. The remaining seat at stake was taken by an independent candidate.

Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is the state BN chairman, retained his Balingian seat with a majority of 5,154 votes in a three-cornered fight against his second cousin Salleh Jafaruddin standing as an Independent, who obtained 1,056, and the challenger from
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Suriati Abdullah, who polled 871.

A strong win for the ruling coalition in the resource-rich but rural state on Borneo island should convince Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to call a snap general election. Elections are not due until 2013.

Mr Najib said BN's victory was very meaningful and showed that the people's confidence in BN was still high.

In a video conference with Taib in Kuching, the prime minister, who was at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, congratulated Taib and Sarawak BN on the meaningful win despite a strong challenge from the opposition this time.

"There have been big majority or increased majority wins in several constituencies. With this, what we need to do is to give a lot of thanks to the people of Sarawak for retaining their support and trust in BN," he said.

Najib, who went to the ground to campaign in the state election which has been described as the stiffest in the state's history, said the federal government would ensure that all promises made to the people of Sarawak would be fulfilled.

World News Engine

Blog Archive

Popular Posts Today

Labels

Malaysia's BN wins two-thirds majority in Sarawak polls

0 comments:

Labels

Facebook Badge