KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Gerakan president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong has pledged to step down from his party post should he loses his parliamentary seat in Teluk Intan.

Mah said his odds of retaining the seat is split 50-50, since he won the seat in the 2014 by-election only by a slim margin of 238.

"I will have to take responsibility. I will have to step down as Gerakan president. But I will continue to serve the party as a member,” Mah said in an interview published in The Star today.

"You cannot be a president of a party and not get the people’s mandate. It’s untenable to be party president under such circumstances.”

In 2014, Mah won against DAP first-time candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud. He had previously lost the seat in the 2013 general elections to a majority of 7,313 votes.

Despite that, Mah said the result of the by-election cannot be used a gauge of support for Barisan Nasional, and he believes voters are behind him.

"We have carried out a lot of development in the area, with a new university coming up. We have done welfare work for the lower income and aged. We are also solving flood problems. When the West Coast Expressway is ready next year, there will be vast improvement in connectivity and there will be more tourists visiting the town.

"I have been meeting the local people and attending their functions to get their feedback. My main role is to ensure development projects in Teluk Intan are on track,” he said.

Mah was also confident that Gerakan will win at least one state seat in Penang, claiming voters want more check-and-balance, especially when it comes to environmental issues and accountability.

"In addition, some leaders of the state government are very arrogant. Many people in Penang are accusing the present state government of taking the people’s support for granted,” he added.

* Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly reported that Mah had won the Teluk Intan seat in the 2013 general elections. It has since been corrected.