It's confirmed. Barisan Nasional (BN) has clinched the Pengkalan Pasir by-election in Kelantan with a majority of 134 votes.

Following a recount, the Election Commission (EC) announced at 12.35 pm that BN candidate Hanafi Mamat received 7,422 votes while PAS' Hanifa Ahmad polled 7,288 votes and independent candidate Ibrahim Ali garnered 415 votes.

The announcement was greeted with applause from BN supporters who had gathered at the tallying centre at Sek Men Sultan Ibrahim I in Pasir Mas.

During the recount, which started at 10.20am, it was reported that the situation was calm and the police had maintained tight security around the area.

The number of supporters from BN and PAS was also far less compared to last night when some 10,000 people packed the tallying centre.

Fresh polls?

After the first count last night, it was announced that Hanafi had won the seat with a 129-vote majority after receiving 7,419 votes beating Hanifa (7,290) and Ibrahim (414).

The by-election was called following the death of PAS incumbent Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Jaafar on Oct 31. He had defeated Hanafi during the 2004 general election by a mere 56 votes.

The BN victory means that the coalition now has 22 seats while PAS, which has been ruling Kelantan since 1990, has 23 in the state assembly.

Prior to the contest, pundits predicted that a BN victory would intensify the pressure on PAS to dissolve the state assembly and call for a fresh state polls as challenged by BN leaders.

The Islamic-based party must also now be on the look-out for possible defections by its state assemblypersons.