YOUTH party Muda put on a good fight in its electoral debut, winning the Puteri Wangsa seat with a majority of 7,114 votes.

It fared a lot better than Pejuang, the party led by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, which lost its deposit in all the seats it contested. 

In its first election, Muda contested in Puteri Wangsa, Larkin, Parit Raja, Bukit Kepong, Machap, Tenang and Bukit Permai.

In Puteri Wangsa, Amira Aisya, the party’s secretary-general, won with a landslide of 22,884 votes.

Puteri Wangsa has a total of 112,804 voters and 52,948 came out to cast their ballots.

Amira was initially trailing behind Tebrau MCA’s chief Ng Yew Aik, who in the end managed to secure 15,770 votes.

With this win, Muda now holds one parliamentary seat in Muar and one Johor state seat. 

Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Loh Koh Yong had 8,957 votes, Pejuang’s Khairil Anwar Razali (2,468), Parti Bangsa Malaysia’s Steven Choong (2,471) and Independent Adzrin Adam obtained 398 votes, losing his deposit. 

Similarly in Tenang, Muda’s Lim Wei Jiet was initially leading but was eventually overtaken by Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Haslinda Salleh.

Tenang is a rural seat that has a large voter base among Felda settlers. It is also a BN stronghold. 

Lim played second fiddle with 3,644 votes, while Haslinda won by securing 5,380 votes. 

In a tweet, Lim apologised for not winning the seat for Muda, but said it was an honour to have contested on behalf of the party.

PN’s Ahmad Humaizi Uzir garnered 2,729 votes while Mohd Fauzi Bachok from Pejuang got 224 votes, losing his deposit. 

In all other seats, the party secured less than 20% of all votes. 

In Bukit Kepong, where it went against former Johor menteri besar Sahruddin Jamal (PN), Muda’s Afiqah Zulkifli trailed far behind, securing only 3,076 (13.79%) votes out of a total of 9,163. 

Bukit Kepong falls under the Pagoh parliamentary constituency, which is held by PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin. 

Sahruddin won with a slim majority of 710 votes. BN’s Ismail Mahamed secured 9,163 votes while Pejuang’s Md Taib Suhut obtained 191 votes, losing his deposit. 

In Larkin, where it clashed with PKR, Muda only secured 12.87% or 4,948 votes out of a total of 38,433 votes. 

BN’s Mohd Hairi Mad Shah won the seat with a majority of 6,178 votes. He obtained 16,053 of the ballots.

PN’s Zulkifli Bujang secured 9,875 votes, PKR’s Zamil Najwah (6,448), Pejuang (810) and Independent Norramadan Buan got 299 votes – the latter two losing their deposits.

In Parit Raja, where Muda went up against incumbent Nor Rashidah Ramli (BN), it also suffered a huge loss, with Fikri Musa managing only 3,893 votes (18.15%) over Rashidah’s 10,634 votes. 

Taking to Twitter, Fikri thanked everyone who voted for him, expressing that despite losing the seat, he still felt close to the people of Parit Raja.

PN’s Zulkifli Mat Daud came in second place with 6,415 votes while Lateef Mahrani for Pejuang obtained 510 votes, losing his deposit. 

Lastly, in Machap, Muda didn’t stand a chance against BN’s Onn Hafiz Ghazi, who won with a majority of 6,543 votes, securing a total of 11,029 votes. 

Onn Hafiz previously held the Layang-Layang state seat.

Muda’s R. Sangaran obtained 3,493 votes (19.74%), PN’s Azlisham Azahar (4,486 votes) and Pejuang’s Sahruddin Md Salleh received 465 votes, losing his deposit. – March 13, 2022.