After a long and a nervous wait, the Election Commission finally announced that Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Dr Wan Azizah Ismail has won the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat.

Following a recount which started at about 1pm, the final outcome showed that Wan Azizah retained the seat with a slim 590 majority.

She obtained 21,737 votes as opposed to BN/Umno candidate Firdaus Ismail's 21,147.

The first count of votes immediately after polls yesterday gave her a slimmer majority of 449 votes. She was adjudged to have garnered 21,737 votes as opposed to Firdaus' 21,288 yesterday.

In 1999, Wan Azizah obtained 23,820 votes, or a majority of 9,077, to defeat Umno's Dr Ibrahim Saad who got 14,743 votes.

In an immediate reaction, Wan Azizah said her victory showed that "Anwar is still relevant". She added that her party will continue to fight for justice and democracy.

Her husband, former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, is in jail for sodomy and corrupt practices, a charge which he denies and blames on a conspiracy by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Anwar factor was pivotal in ensuring a big victory for the newly formed Keadilan in the 1999 general election. The party had then won five parliamentary seats and generally brought about a stronger opposition presence in the parliament.

However in this election, Keadilan has failed to retain any of its seats, but for Permatang Pauh. Its ally PAS too was routed in its own backyard - Kelantan and Terengganu.

DAP's good show

Meanwhile another opposition party DAP, continued it strong run in this years elections by wrestling the Ipoh Barat parliamentary seat in Perak from the ruling coalition.

A vote recount today confirmed victory for DAP deputy secretary general M Kulasegaran, who obtained 22,935 votes to defeat BN/MCA's Ho Cheing Sing by 598 votes. Ho bagged 22,337 votes.

Ho had won the seat in 1999 by defeating Kualasegaran with a majority of 3,678 votes.

DAP has also taken the Ipoh Timor seat through its chairperson Lim Kit Siang and the Bukit Gelugor seat in Penang through Karpal Singh. The party also managed to retain most of its seats, bringing its tally of parliament seats won to 12 seats.

However, a recount is still underway for one of these seats following a request by MCA at the Bukit Bintang constituency.

EC last night had announced DAP's Fong Kui Lun as the victor following his slender 286 majority over MCA's Tan Chew Moi in this four-cornered fight.

However the party suffered a shock loss in Kota Melaka when its incumbent and party secretary general Kerk Kim Hock was beaten by MCA's Wong Nai Chee by 192 votes. Here too a recount is underway.

PAS saviour

As for PAS, it won its sole parliamentary seat in Kedah after it retained its Pendang seat by a slim 50-vote margin. The party's candidate Mohd Hayati Othman obtained 24,430 votes as opposed to Umno candidate Md Rozai Shafian's 24,380.

The seat was won by the late PAS president Fadzil Noor in 1999 but was wrestled by Umno in the 2001 by-election following Fadzil's death.

This result brings some respectability to PAS who failed to hold on to the 26 parliamentary seats in won in 1999. The party has just managed to win seven seats this year, with most of its top leaders toppled.

The ruling Barisan Nasional coaltion has romped to an unassailable 195 parliamentary seats, making this its possibly most successful victory ever.