JOHOR BAHRU, July 12 — At just 28, Felicia Poh Rui Ling became the youngest successful candidate in the 16th Johor state election, reflecting voters’ confidence in young leadership after winning the Penggaram state seat and retaining it for Pakatan Harapan (PH).

The youngest DAP candidate in the election polled 24,522 votes to defeat Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Boo Chin Leong, 65, who secured 20,385 votes, giving her a majority of 4,137 votes.

Penggaram, which has 70,294 registered voters, is one of three state constituencies under the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat.

Poh’s victory ensured Penggaram remained under PH after the incumbent, Gan Peck Cheng, chose not to defend the seat.

Meanwhile, Datuk Samsolbari Jamali, 65, emerged as the oldest successful candidate in the election after retaining the Semarang seat for a sixth consecutive term.

The Ayer Hitam Umno division chief defeated Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Muhammad Syafiq Abdul Aziz and PH candidate Ramli Abd Hamid with a commanding majority of 14,679 votes.

Muhammad Syafiq and Ramli received 2,695 and 2,205 votes, respectively.

Samsolbari has represented Semarang since first winning the seat in 2004.

The youngest candidate in the election was Danish Hossman Abd Rahman, 23, who contested the Johor Lama seat under the PH banner, while the oldest candidate was Lim Chin Eng, also known as Roland Lim, 73, who represented PN in Stulang.

A total of 172 candidates contested the 56 seats in the Johor state election.

For the latest news on the 16th Johor state election, visit https://prn.bernama.com/johor. — Bernama