KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — PAS is delusional to think it could claim moral victory in the Seri Setia state seat by-election because the party failed to match the vote tally both it and Umno polled at 14th general election, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang said today.
The Iskandar Puteri MP said PAS only collected 9,698 votes even with Umno’s aid, which is over 5,000 fewer than the 14,441 votes collected by both the parties at the May 9 polls.
PAS leaders, backed by Umno, claimed it won the political battle despite losing in Seri Setia because its candidate had doubled the party’s vote tally, and that it indicated growing Malay support for co-operation between Umno and the Islamist party.
“These are dishonest delusions by the PAS and Umno leaders, as the Umno and PAS leaders are using different yardsticks for the comparison of the two polls,” Lim said in a speech delivered in Johor.
“What must compared are the votes secured by the PAS candidate in the by-election with the total votes polled by the Umno and PAS candidates in the GE14 as PAS and Umno had co-operated as one platform in the by-election,” he added.
Lim also noted that PAS candidate Dr Halimah Ali’s total vote tally was still less than the 9,878 votes secured by the Umno at the May 9 elections, raising doubts about claims that Malay support for the Islamists had increased.
Pakatan Harapan’s Halimey Abu Bakar defeated Dr Halimah with a 4,027-vote majority to retain the Seri Setia state seat. The former polled 13,725 votes against PAS’s 9,698.
Just shortly after the results were announced, PAS leaders claimed the party saw an increase in support by pointing to the total votes tally collected by its candidate.
The party also alleged the record low voter turnout, which registered at 46 per cent, signalled growing protest against PH rule although political analysts argued turnouts at by-elections often have little bearing on sentiment.
