NIBONG TEBAL: Abidin Ismail’s wish to continue the legacy of his boss and predecessor looks to be coming true when the Perikatan Nasional candidate emerged victorious in the Sungai Bakap state by-election.
Unofficial results as of press time showed that the 56-year-old former logistics executive is leading with 13,407 votes, more than half of the ballots that have been projected to be cast.
Abidin defeated Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr Joohari Ariffin, a former educator, who managed to secure 9,619 votes as of press time.
Some 50 of 66 streams or ballot boxes in the by-election have been counted so far.
Earlier, eight polling stations with 65 voting streams were opened simultaneously at 8am for the constituency’s 39,151 eligible voters to cast their ballots.
Early and postal votes made up one more voting stream.
The by-election was held following the death of incumbent Nor Zamri Latiff on May 24 due to stomach inflammation.
In the 2023 state election, the late Nor Zamri captured Sungai Bakap with a 1,563-vote majority, defeating Nurhidayah Che Rose from Pakatan.
Malays make up 59.2% of voters in the seat, which has been a Pakatan stronghold since the 12th general election in 2008. Chinese voters comprise 22.4%, while Indians and others make up 17.2% and 1.2%, respectively.
The Sungai Bakap state poll is the eighth by-election since GE15. Previous by-elections were for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat in Terengganu, the Simpang Jeram state seat and the Pulai parliamentary seat in Johor, the Pelangai state seat in Pahang, the Jepak state seat in Sarawak, the Kemaman parliamentary seat in Terengganu, and the Kuala Kubu Baharu state seat in Selangor.
Despite the fact that its result would have little impact on Pakatan’s hold on Penang, Sungai Bakap was framed by Perikatan as a referendum on the federal government’s management of the economy, especially its decision to replace blanket diesel subsidies with a targeted system.
Perikatan has blamed the targeted subsidy system for raising the prices of goods and services, while the unity government alliance that governs Putrajaya claims that most of these subsidies are smuggled out of the country.
