LIVE REPORTS
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This wraps up Malaysiakini's coverage of the Tanjung Piai by-election.
Reporting by Zikri Kamarulzaman, Ng Xiang Yi and Ramieza Wahid. Live KiniTV telecast by Vivian Yap, Baharudin Suarnur and Syazwana Amir. Photos by Mukhriz Hazim. Graphics by Syariman Badrulzaman. Social media updates by Ewe Linq Yenn. Coding by Lee Long Hui. Analysis by Nigel Aw.
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Karmaine accepts defeat
9.53pm -Harapan operations centre, Eco Rambah, Pontian - Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, when met, says Pakatan Harapan will issue a statement later.
Meanwhile, Harapan's defeated candidate Karmaine Sardini says he accepts the lost.
He adds that Harapan will conduct an analysis on the defeat.
OFFICIAL: BN wins with 15,086-vote majority
9.18pm - Dewan Jubli Intan, Jalan Osman - The Election Commission's returning officer formally announces BN's Wee Jeck Seng's victory.
The results are as follow:
BN - 25,466
Harapan - 10,380
Gerakan - 1,707
Berjasa - 850
Ang Chuan Lock - 380
Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar - 32
There are 565 rejected votes. The final turnout is 74.5 percent.
BN won with a 15,086-vote majority.
This means Harapan only garnered slightly more than a quarter of the vote share, at 26.74 percent. BN secured 65.61 percent of the total valid votes.
Gerakan, Berjasa and the independent candidates will lose their deposits.
A candidate must secure one-eighth of the total votes to retain his or her deposit.
Jubilant crowd outside tallying centre
9.15pm - Dewan Jubli Intan, Jalan Osman - The BN crowd outside the tallying centre grows to over 1,000 people.
The jubilant crowd waves BN flags and sing songs.
Among them is 58-year-old Hong Kim Kek, who says the results showed that "Chinese honour" was defended.
Hong, who is the Tanjung Piai MCA Wanita chief, says BN's candidate Wee Jeck Seng contributions to the constituency cannot be disputed and therefore deserves the win.
However, she stresses that emotions must be contained to avoid unfortunate situations.
BN supporters begins to march
8.30pm - BN operations centre, Jalan Umno - BN supporters here have started marching to the tallying centre at Dewan Jubli Intan, Pontian where the Election Commission will formally announce the coalition's Wee Jeck Seng as the winner.
More than 500 people are part of the procession. Authorities have cordoned off part of Jalan Alsagoff to allow them to march.
Leading the crowd are Wee, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
They arrive at the tallying centre after 20 minutes.
Hisham: This is beyond our expectation
8.15pm - BN operations centre, Jalan Umno - Former Umno vice president Hishammuddin Hussein says BN's landslide win in the Tanjung Piai by-election has exceeded expectations.
"It's overwhelming. It's beyond our expectation. I think it is a reflection of the BN components. We could not have done it without MCA and MIC.
"This is what the people are looking for. This is a good start for BN.
"We should not be arrogant. This is just Tanjung Piai. We still have lots of work to do to get back on the right track," he says.
Syed Husin targets Dr M
8pm - Former PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali says the results is a referendum on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's leadership.
“The results are clear. The people are disappointed and want to teach Harapan, especially Dr M.
“He knows what should be done with immediate effect. Don't delay any longer,” he tweets.
Mahathir had personally campaigned in Tanjung Piai, where he spoke at a ceramah on Wednesday night.
Yesterday, the premier penned a letter to the voters urging them to support Pakatan Harapan candidate Karmaine Sardini.
Previously, Syed Hussin criticised Mahathir for delaying the succession plan of passing the leadership baton to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.
Karmaine at Harapan operations centre
8pm - Harapan operations centre, Eco Rambah, Pontian - Some supporters have begun to leave the operations centre.
Despite the imminent defeat, Harapan's candidate Karmaine Sardini makes an appearance here.
He greets supporters and thanks them.
UNOFFICIAL: BN crushes Harapan in Tg Piai
7.47pm - Malaysiakini is calling the Tanjung Piai by-election for BN.
BN is on track to crush Harapan with a five-figure majority.
Malaysiakini estimates the turnout to be around 75 percent, which translates to 39,739 votes.
With BN's votes at 20,352, they have garnered more than half of the total votes.
Therefore, there is "no hope" for Harapan to close the gap.
'Tanjung Piai is ours' - BN
7.30pm - BGU Barisan Nasional, Jalan Umno - With victory in their sights, BN Youth start to sing “Tanjung Piai kita punya (Tanjung Piai is ours)”.
Celebrations erupted after BN candidate Wee Jeck Seng established a
commanding lead over Harapan's Karmaine Sardini.
BN members also shout “Terima kasih kepada PAS (Thank you PAS)” and “Takbir Allahu Akhbar”.
BN extends lead to more than 10k
7.30pm - According to the Election Commission's unofficial tally, BN candidate Wee Jeck Seng is leading by more than 10,000 votes.
As of 7.30pm, BN has received 17,440 votes and Pakatan Harapan's Karmaine Sardini 6,733 votes.
At this rate, Wee, a two-term Tanjung Pia MP, looks set to recapture the
seat, which slipped through his grasp in the last polls by a mere 524-vote
majority.
Harapan faring poorly in two Chinese-majority polling districts
7.15pm - A Harapan source told Malaysiakini that the ruling
coalition is faring poorly in the polling districts of Jalan Rimba Terjun and
Kampung Duku.
Both Jalan Rimba Terjun and Kampung Duku are Chinese-majority polling
districts.
Jalan Rimba Terjun comprises 80.98 percent Chinese, 16.7 percent Malays and
2.05 percent Indians.
Kampung Duku is made up of 61.35 percent Chinese, 36.65 percent Malays and
1.26 percent Indians.
In the last general election, Harapan won Jalan Rimba Terjun with 78.77
percent of the votes while in Kampung Duku, it won 63.39 percent of the votes.
The Harapan source expressed concern that the coalition may lose both polling districts in this by-election.
Gloom at Harapan HQ
7.10pm - Harapan operations centre, Eco Rambah, Pontian - Some 150 Harapan supporters are gathered here.
They appear gloomy but believe it's too early to call the election.
Supporters jubilant as BN widens lead
7pm - BN operations centre, Jalan Umno - BN supporters are jubilant as the unofficial tally has the coalition pulling ahead of Harapan.
More than 200 supporters are gathered here. They shout "Takbir
Allahu Akbar" every time new results come in that see BN widening its
lead.
Present at the war room are Parliament opposition leader Ismail Sabri and MCA president Wee Ka Siong.
BN pulls ahead by over 1,000 votes
6.40pm - The first data from the votes cast today has come in,
according to unofficial tally.
BN widens its lead with 1,721 votes while Harapan is trailing with 675
votes, a gap of more than 1,000 votes.
Gerakan is in third position with 161 votes while Berjasa is fourth with 63
votes.
Independent candidates Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar have 26 and three votes respectively.
BN leads but Harapan improves postal and advance votes share
5.58pm - BN takes an early lead after the advance and postal votes are counted, according to unofficial tally.
BN is ahead with 273 votes while Harapan is second with 162 votes.
Berjasa received seven votes, Gerakan three while independent candidates Ang
Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar received one and nil respectively.
While BN may have won the advance and postal votes, Harapan appears to have
made improvements.
In the last general election, BN won 68.75 percent of the advance and postal
votes but it is down to 61.21 percent in this by-election.
Meanwhile, Harapan improved its advance and postal votes share from 20.09 percent in the last general election to 36.32 percent in this by-election.
PAS, which is not contesting in this by-election, had secured 11.16 percent of the advance and postal votes share in the last general election.
Some trivia
- The Tanjung Piai federal constituency was created during the 2004 general
election. Its first MP was then MCA president Ong Ka Ting.
- The Tanjung Piai federal constituency was carved out from its
neighbouring Pontian federal seat. The two seats collectively form the
Pontian district.
- From 2008 until 2018, MCA's Wee Jeck Seng served as the MP. He was
unseated by the late Md Farid Md Rafik of Bersatu in 2018. It was the first
time BN failed to retain the seat.
- The Tanjung Piai seat comprises two state seats, namely Pekan Nenas and
Kukup. Umno won Kukup while DAP took Pekan Nenas in the last general
election.
- Tanjung Piai is known as the southernmost tip of the Asian continent.
Voting ends
5.30pm - Polls for the Tanjung Piai by-election has officially closed.
This is a contest between BN's Wee Jeck Seng, Pakatan Harapan's Karmaine Sardini, Berjasa's Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz, Gerakan's Wendy Subramaniam and independent candidates Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar.
The campaign began on Nov 2 and lasted two weeks.
The by-election was called after the incumbent MP, Bersatu's Md Farid Md Rafik, passed away from a heart attack in September, just three weeks before his 43rd birthday.
In the last general election, Md Farid had won the seat by a slim 524-vote majority after garnering 21,255 votes to Wee's 20,731 votes. Nordin Othman, who contested under PAS banner, won 2,962 votes.
PAS is not contesting in this by-election and has backed BN.
There are 52,986 eligible voters in this by-election.
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