Barisan Nasional dealt a crushing blow to PAS by wresting away the Pendang parliamentary seat in today's by-election with a slim majority of 283 votes.

BN veteran candidate Othman Abdul garnered 22,825 whereas PAS' Dr Mohd Hayati Osman polled 22,542 votes.

At one stage, PAS was ahead with a mere 15 votes and this later increased 281, casting a glow of hope on the opposition party's chances.

Eighty six percent of the 53,128 voters turned out to vote in Pendang. This figure is lower compared to the 81 percent or 53,388 voters that cast their ballots in1999.

The result was announced after a recount was conducted following a request from PAS. The earlier announcement too pronounced BN as the winner.

In the last general-election, the late PAS president Fadzil Noor defeated Othman by a majority of 2,934 votes. Fadzil garnered 22,413 votes while the incumbent received 19,474 votes.

State seat retained

Fadzil's death also paved the way for today's Anak Bukit state by-election which PAS managed to retain with a slim majority of 508 votes.

The opposition party's candidate Amiruddin Hamzah received 8,298 while BN's Zakaria Said garnered 7,790 votes.

PAS suffered a reduction of 1,332 votes compared to the 1999 general election where Fadzil polled 8,480 while the BN candidate received 6,640 votes.

The voter turnout in Anak Bukit also increased to 84 percent compared to 77.89 percent in 1999. Anak Bukit has a total of 19,399 registered voters.

In the run up to the by-elections, it was widely speculated that BN will wrest away the Anak Bukit seat from PAS, allowing the opposition party to only retain its parliamentary seat.

A BN victory in Anak Bukit would have assured the coalition a two-third majority in the state assembly.

In a video conference from Pendang later, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi briefed Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the results.

Mahathir, whose homestate is Kedah, thanked all party leaders and workers for their hard work in ensuring a BN victory in Pendang. The premier also congratulated Othman over his victory.