KUALA LUMPUR: Women candidates generally received good support from voters in the 13th general election to represent their voice.
There were 168 women candidates vying for parliamentary and state seats this time, with the DAP candidate for the Seputeh parliamentary seat Teresa Kok Suh Sim winning with a huge majority of 51,552 votes, defeating another woman candidate, Nicole Wong Siaw Ting from Barisan Nasional.
Also coming out victorious was Women, Family and CommunityDevelopment Deputy Minister Datuk Noriah Kasnon who defended her Sungai Besar parliamentary seat with a 399-vote majority.
Puteri Umno chief and Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin managed to retain her Papar parliamentary seat, which she won in the 2008 general election, garnering 21,196 votes this time.
Barisan’s Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique also retained her Tenggara parliamentary seat in Johor after obtaining 25,698 votes, defeating Muhamad Said Jonit from PAS who received 8,502 votes. PKR Nurul Izzah Anwar retained the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat, defeatingDatuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin with a 1,847-vote majority.
In Kedah where Barisan wrested back the state from the Opposition pact, three of its six women candidates won.
They are Datuk Suraya Yaacob (Sungai Tiang), Kama Nuriah Ibrahim (Pedu) and Datin Noor Sabrina Mohd Noor (Bandar Baharu).
In Pahang, PKR’s Fuziah Salleh retained the Kuantan parliamentary seat after defeating Mohamed Suffian Awang from BN, while Deputy HumanResources Minister Datuk Maznah Mazlan won the Muadzam Shah state seat, defeating Muhamad Nordin Pa’wan Chik from PKR.
Two other women candidates, Barisan’s Nurhidayah Mohamad Shahaimi won the Luit state seat and DAP’s Kamache A. Doray Rajoo the Sabai seat, both defeating their male challengers.
Two female singers, Wan Aishah Wan Ariffin and Dayangku Intan orTengku Intan Tengku Abdul Hamid, tried their luck in the general election for the first time but failed to win.
Wan Aishah, representing PAS, contested the Jempol parliamentary seat in Negri Sembilan against former Mentri Besar and Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad but lost by 8,614 votes.
Dayangku Intan from PKR, contested the Pengerang parliamentary seat in Johor against the incumbent Datuk Seri Azalina Othman from Barisan, but the latter won with a majority of 22,508 votes.
Azalina had won the seat uncontested in the 2004 and 2008.
