JULY 27 — The Kuala Besut by-election brought no surprises or unexpected result. It was a relatively peaceful by-election.

BN won with a majority of 2,592 votes, 158 more than the majority of 2,434 votes in the May 5 general election. However, it does not mean that the number of voters supporting BN has increased as in fact BN candidate Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Rahman received 451 votes fewer while Pakatan Rakyat candidate Azlan Yusof received 679 votes fewer compared to the votes the parties obtained in the general election.

Obviously, the numbers of votes received by the two candidates reflected the impact of voter turnout which had decreased by 7 per cent. However, even if the turnout was retained, it is believed that the BN would still win and the only difference would be the numbers of votes gained.

The by-election was held less than three months after the May 5 general election. As expected, it is not easy for voters to change within such a short period of time. Moreover, Kuala Besut has been a conservative rural constituency.

Although its election process and results were so bland, there were inevitably still some controversies.

For instance, about 300 PAS supporters mobbed a convoy of five cars transporting Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar and EC advisers, assuming that they were outsiders trying to bring ballot boxes into the polling station.

Also, both camps mutually accused each other of vote buying and Tengku Zaihan was criticised for publicly displayed his ballot paper during voting. These incidents have cast a stain on the by-election which was expected to be a model by-election.

Similar suspicion of smuggling ballot boxes had taken place during the May 5 general election. The EC should have learned a lesson and reviewed the causes to prevent similar incidents in future elections.

As for the vote-buying accusation, it happens in almost every election. Undeniably, there are still loopholes and grey areas in our Election Act, allowing various unhealthy vote canvassing means. Such as the act of a self-proclaimed “millionaire” village chief to distribute RM50 to RM200 in “transportation allowance” to voters and PAS’s strategy to offer free petrol for motorcyclists aged 21 years old and above were “Santa Claus-style” strategies. These are signs of degenerating democracy, as well as very bad demonstrations of election practices.

Similarly, the move by Tengku Zaihan to publicly display his ballot paper was another bad demonstration. Didn’t he violate section 5(2) and (3) of the Election Offences Act 1954?

Tengku Zaihan had obviously committed a taboo and it is unlikely to be convincing for the EC to say that it was his personal choice and the act did not violate the Election Offences Act.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.