KUCHING, May 7 — Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen blamed the low voter turnout for the party’s loss of five out of 12 seats in the 11th Sarawak state elections today.
The predominantly Chinese opposition party only managed to defend seven of the dozen seats it previously won in the 2011 polls, amid a record low voter turnout of 52 per cent an hour before polls closed.
“Though I have won the election (for my seat), DAP Sarawak has lost the battle,” he told reporters at the party’s headquarters here.
“We accept the defeat and the verdict of the people. We will do our soul searching and analyse the results, the factors, the defeats, to improve ourselves and return to the battleground with stronger force,” added Chong, who retained his Kota Sentosa seat.
He said that even though the “Adenan factor” played a part in their defeat, it was not the main reason for the loss.
“The main reason is the low turnout rates,” he said.
Chong also defended the party’s decision to pursue rural support for the election, and said DAP will continue to pursue this despite not being able to defend their urban strongholds.
DAP had gained Tanjong Batu as a new seat in the 11th Sarawak state election, but failed in to defend six of their 12 seats from 2011.
The seven constituencies DAP now holds are Padungan, Pending, Pelawan, Tanjong Batu, Kota Sentosa, Bukit Assek and Pujut.
Opposition ally PKR had managed to retain their three seats, while both PAS and Amanah had failed to secure any.
BN won the remaining 72 seats for a clear supermajority in the assembly.
