PERMATANG PAUH, May 7 — PKR’s Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has won the by-election here with a 8,841-vote majority, according to the official vote count.

The 62-year-old PKR president was only around 3,000 votes shy of husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s 11,721-vote majority from Election 2013 despite the lower voter turnout of 74 per cent today.

According to the results from the Election Commission (EC), PKR secured 30,316 votes while Barisan Nasional received 21,475.

Independent Salleh Isahak took 367 votes to push Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s (PRM) Azman Shah Othman into last place with 101 votes.

Both the PRM and independent candidates will lose their deposits as they failed to garner the minimum one-eighth or 12 per cent of the total votes cast.

A total of 52,259 ballots were cast, of which 843 were marked as spoilt.

In a press conference after the announcement of her victory at Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara here, Dr Wan Azizah attributed the result to the people’s voice against the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Anwar’s conviction for sodomy.

“This by-election is a referendum on the GST and jailing of Anwar so the people have spoken by voting for us and against the GST, mismanagement in the federal government and the political incarceration of Anwar,” she said.

Anwar was sentenced to five years’ jail for sodomising a former aide and his subsequent disqualification triggered the by-election here.

She expressed her gratitude to the people of Permatang Pauh for choosing her to be their MP once again, after having won the seat before in Election 1999 and again in 2008 before making way for Anwar.

“Anwar may not know about this yet but I will inform him through our lawyer and I would like to thank Permatang Pauh for trusting in PKR once again,” she said.

She also said despite all the attacks against her and allegations that she was not performing as the Kajang assemblyman, the people of Permatang Pauh has seen through it all.

Dr Wan Azizah added that the results showed that Pakatan Rakyat is still relevant to the people and that all three allies — PKR, DAP and PAS — had pulled together to win this seat.

She thanked allies DAP and PAS for helping with the campaign and contributing towards the win.