KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he is proud of the effort and spirit shown by the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate and the BN election machinery in the Sungai Limau by-election although the BN failed to wrest the seat from PAS.

He said the hard work put in by the BN candidate Dr Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim and the party machinery succeeded in reducing the majority obtained by the opposing candidate.

Najib, who is also BN chairman, said he hoped the effort and spirit shown by the BN in the by-election would be continued and that nobody should be disheartened.

“I hope our fight will continue, do not give up. Our struggle is unfinished,” he said on his Twitter and Facebook sites tonight.

PAS retained the Sungai Limau state seat with a reduced majority of 1,084 votes in a by-election today. Its candidate, Mohd Azam Abd Samat,37, garnered 12,069 votes while Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim, 52, polled 10,985 votes. 

In the 13^th general election in May, the late Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak of PAS had retained the seat for the fifth term in a four-cornered fight with a 2,774-vote majority. — Bernama