PEJUANG chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad has failed to defend the Langkawi parliamentary seat, receiving only 4,566 votes to come out fourth and losing his deposit in the process. 

The former prime minister lost the seat to Perikatan Nasional candidate Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah who attained 25,463 votes.

Barisan Nasional candidate Armishah Siraj got 11,945 votes, followed by Pakatan Harapan’s Zabidi Yahya. The sole independent candidate Abd Kadir got 89 votes.

Dr Mahathir’s unregistered coalition Gerakan Tanah Air is contesting more than 120 seats under the Pejuang banner in this general election.

Suhaimi Abdullah won with a majority of 13,518 votes.

It is the 97-year-old’s first defeat in Malaysia’s elections since he first won in 1964.

In GE14, Dr Mahathir won the Langkawi seat in a straight fight against BN Nawawi Ahmad with a 8,893 majority.

He served as the fourth and seventh prime minister of Malaysia. 

Dr Mahathir had held office from July 1981 to October 2003 and later from May 2018 to March 2020 for a total of 24 years, making him the country’s longest-serving prime minister. 

He had stepped down as prime minister after the Sheraton move which saw the collapse of his Pakatan Harapan government in 2020.

On August 4, Dr Mahathir announced the establishment of GTA to target Malay and Muslim voters fed up with Umno’s brand of politics.

The coalition is made up of Pejuang, National Indian Muslim Alliance Party (Iman), Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) and Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa). – November 20, 2022.