KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 – DAP secured over 70 per cent of the total number of parliament seats it contested in the 13th general election, winning 38 of the 51 seats as party adviser Lim Kit Siang made an inroad into the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) stronghold of Johor.
At the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat in Johor, Lim ousted former menteri besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman by securing a 14,762-vote majority.
Party insiders attributed this among others to the high voter turnout of 89.1 per cent at the constituency compared with the nationwide estimate of between 70 and 80 per cent announced by the Election Commission.
Lim’s success was also due to the backing of the Chinese voters in the constituency. Besides Gelang Patah, DAP candidates also won Kluang, Bakri and Kulai, but lost in Labis and Tanjong Piai.
In the 12th general election in 2008, DAP won 28 parliamentary seats. Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng retained his Bagan parliamentary constituency with a 34,159-vote majority, Air Puteh state seat with over 7,700-vote majority.
Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) chaiman Teng Chang Yeow announced his resignation within hours after poll results were announced by taking full responsibility over the failure to wrest the state from Pakatan Rakyat.
In Kuala Lumpur, DAP won all five parliamentary seats the party contested, namely in Kepong, Segambut, Bukit Bintang, Seputeh and Cheras. In Perak, all its seven candidates won with a comfortable margin of votes in most of the Chinese majority parliamentary seats of Taiping, Ipoh Timor, Ipoh Barat, Batu Gajah, Beruas, Kampar and Telok Intan.
Selangor also saw DAP maintain its grip on Puchong (Gobind Singh Deo), PJ Utara (Tony Pua) and Klang (Charles Santiago). Newcomer Ong Kian Ming also managed to ward off BN’s Datuk Yap Pian Hon.
In Melaka, DAP’s Sim Tong Him retained the Kota Melaka parliamentary seat, but failed in its bid for Alor Gajah constituency via Damian Yeo Shen Li, while Seremban and Rasah remained in the party’s grasp.
In Sabah, DAP won in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, but failed in Sepanggar and Putatan. While voters in Sarawak, especially in Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Lanang, Sarikei and Sibu, picked DAP candidates as their representatives in parliament, those in Mas Gading, Serian, Mukah, Kapit, Bintulu and Lawas constituencies chose the BN.
BERNAMA
