GEORGE TOWN – The Penang Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) alliance has declared it has won 29 out of the 40 state seats – giving it a slimmer edge in the state assembly.
Penang PH chief Chow Kon Yeow, who is also caretaker chief minister, said that the alliance has now won more than enough seats to form the next state government.
Despite jubilant scenes of victory at the state election watch headquarters in the St Giles-Wembley Hotel here, several PH leaders appeared downcast.
Even DAP icon Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang seemed sombre, though DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng had earlier been raised on the shoulders of his supporters.
Guan Eng, however, was absent for the official victory celebrations.
PH-BN struggled to replicate the stunning supermajority it had earned in the 2018 state election, where it won 38 out of the 40 seats.
Chow told a press conference here that he would be sworn in as chief minister tomorrow before Yang di-Pertuan Negri Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak here.
He said that the 29 seats won was within the target he had set in mind, bearing in mind the current political challenges and sentiments throughout the country.
Among the notable setbacks for PH-BN was the yielding of the three state seats in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency.
The electoral zone has been regarded as the spiritual base of power for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his family since 1982.
Since last year, however, many voters have switched allegiance to Perikatan Nasional (PN), namely PAS.
PN’s Izhar Shah Arif Shah defeated PH’s Johari Kassim in Seberang Jaya.
Amir Hamzah Abdul Hashim (PN) edged out incumbent Faiz Fadzil (PH) – the son of former PAS president Datuk Fadzil Noor – while Rohsidi Hussin (PH) lost to Zulkefli Bakar (PN) in Penanti. – The Vibes, August 13, 2023
