GEORGE TOWN, June 1 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today attributed the defeat in the Teluk Intan by-election to a low voter turnout, of just 66.5 per cent.
Lim who is also the Penang Chief Minister said according to the party’s preliminary analysis, there were three reasons for the loss yesterday and low voter turnout was one of them.
“The voter turnout dropped to about 66 per cent, that’s 7,000 to 8,000 less voters, compared with about 80 per cent in the last general election,” he told reporters after presenting prizes for the Penang Run here today.
He added that most of those who did not turn up on polling day were the largely pro-opposition voters from outstation.
Lim said the other reason for the defeat was also due to politics played by UMNO during campaigning and the fact that Dyana Sofya was a new face in the constituency and did not have enough time to familiarize herself with the local
folks.
Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Mah Siew Keong who is the Gerakan President polled 20,157 votes to beat Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud from the DAP by a slim 238-vote majority to recapture the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat as Dyana
Sofya had garnered only 19,919 votes.
However, Lim said the party would conduct a detailed post-mortem of the defeat in Teluk Intan soon.
“We have no regrets in fielding a young Malay candidate (Dyana Sofya) in Teluk Intan as she had given a creditable performance,” he said adding that despite the defeat Dyana would continue to fight and serve the people in the
constituency.
He also said that the real winner in Teluk Intan was not Mah Siew Keong, but Umno.
— BERNAMA
