PAS has successfully retained the Kemaman parliamentary seat, with its candidate Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar winning by a huge margin.

The Terengganu menteri besar defeated Barisan Nasional’s Gen (Rtd) Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor by a 37,220-vote majority, the former bagging 64,998 votes to the latter’s 27,778.

Returning officer Ahmad Farhan Abdul Wahab announced this at the vote tallying centre at the Dewan Berlian Utama, Kemaman Municipal Council at 10pm tonight.

Farhan said the voter turnout was 65.76%. Some 141,790 voters were eligible to exercise their right in the by-election.

The by-election was called following the Terengganu Election Court’s decision on September 26 to nullify PAS candidate Che Alias Hamid’s victory in the general election in November last year. 

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Samsuri, when by met by reporters, thanked all Kemaman voters and the PAS and Bersatu machineries that helped make the by-election campaign a success over the past two weeks.

He said the victory with a majority of more than 37,000 votes surpassed the expectations of leaders from both parties, although the voter turnout was less than the expected 72%.

“My focus in parliament, Insya-Allah will be on matters not only related to Kemaman but on Terengganu itself, on how we can contribute in various ways to Malaysia’s wellbeing,” he said.

Raja Mohamed Affandi, on the other hand, congratulated Samsuri and PAS on their victory and thanked the 27,778 Kemaman voters as well as the entire Umno, BN and unity government parties’ machinery that supported him.

“We can only put in the effort, and I leave the rest to Allah SWT,” he said in a statement. – December 2, 2023.