TELUK INTAN, May 31 — Barisan Nasional (BN) has regained Teluk Intan by 238 votes, according to the unofficial count.
Preliminary results from the tallying centre gave BN’s Datuk Mah Siew Keong victory with 20157 ballots against the 19919 of DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.
The DAP are now deliberating on whether to seek a recount.
The by-election today saw an unusually small turnout of 66.7 per cent and a lower than anticipated Chinese vote for DAP, swinging the poll in BN’s favour.
“We managed to get about 65 per cent of the Chinese votes,” a Perak DAP source told The Malay Mail Online. “Our majority in Chinese areas is not big enough.”
DAP gambled on fielding Dyana Sofya, a 26-year-old Malay woman, in the Chinese majority constituency and witnessed early dissent among the community over her choice.
Perak DAP chief Datuk Nga Kor Ming concurred that a loss would indicate that Malaysians were not ready to move beyond communal politics or immune to BN’s racially-tailored campaigning.
“If that happens, my heart is broken,” Nga told The Malay Mail Online when asked of the possible loss.
Reporters are now crowding a projector screen displaying the official results at the tallying centre at SMK Abdul Rahman Talib, where counting began shortly after polling closed at 5pm.
Supporters are also gathering at a football field outside the centre where two projectors have been set up to display the vote tally, with members of the police’s Light Strike Force in between.
Both candidates are also expected to arrive at the tallying centre for the announcement of the official result.
MORE TO COME
