At about 7.30pm in Pendang last Thursday, two hours after polling had ended, PAS supporters and party workers were seen heading home in their vehicles.

They were jubilant as they waved party flags at passers-by, honking at frustrated drivers and passengers trapped in a massive traffic jam leading to the tally centre in SMK Pendang.

Those by the roadside greeted them with the same exuberance, screaming "PAS menang, PAS menang" (PAS has won, PAS has won). All this time, BN supporters were hardly visible and those who were seen appeared moody.

Later, outside the tally centre, hundreds of supporters from the two parties vying for the parliamentary seat arch rivals PAS and Umno gathered to hear the results being announced.

PAS secretary-general Nasharuddin Mat Isa, who arrived at the centre at 8.30pm accompanied by an entourage, was in confident mood. He told malaysiakini "It's 2-0" (meaning PAS had won Pendang and Anak Bukit).

Two journalists from the mainstream media who were outside the gate also declared "it's 2-0". So when the result for Pendang was finally announced at 11.45pm, it came as a shock. A policeman guarding the entrance to the centre asked "What happened?".

Even BN candidate Othman Abdul must have been informed that he was trailing his PAS opponent Dr Mohd Hayati Osman. He only turned up at the centre at 10.30pm when it became clear that he was going to be the victor that night.

In the end, Othman garnered 22,825 votes to the 22,542 votes obtained by Mohd Hayati, winning by a slim majority of 283. There were 346 spoilt votes and voter turnout was 86.07 percent.

Split down the middle

Yesterday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the results of the by-election for Pendang and the state seat of Anak Bukit showed that the BN was winning back Malay support.

"It's true that the Malays are split right down the middle but we have made progress," he said.

But did the by-elections yield any true winner?

DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock said the results showed neither Umno or Pas to be the real winner.

He said BN entered the by-elections at a time when Mahathir was believed to be at the peak of his popularity and when Umno's wounds caused by the sacking of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 had completely healed.

"(An) electoral result is the best proof and despite those claims coupled with the might of its resources and machinery, the BN could only wrest back the Pendang parliamentary seat with a narrow majority of 283 votes," Kerk said.

In the 1999 general election, Umno obtained less than half of the total Malay votes for the first time in 30 years. The party lost 17 parliamentary seats in the process. But the BN was able to retain its two-third majority thanks to Chinese and Indian support.

Disappointed with results

The by-elections showed Umno had moved back to a 50:50 position versus PAS among Malay voters, Mahathir said.

PAS, which campaigns on a policy of turning Malaysia into an Islamic state, had won Pendang and Anak Bukit in 1999 riding on a wave of support of the Malays in the north where it won control of two of Malaysia's 13 states.

However, despite winning Anak Bukit last Thursday with a slim majority of 503 votes, PAS is disappointed with the results in Pendang. It claimed there were many irregularities in the election procedures.

Dr Hayati accused the BN of deploying phantom voters saying that party workers had 'caught' people with two identity cards. He also claimed that there were people who voted in two areas.

"We have lodged police reports on the matter and will also be lodging a report to the Election Commission and Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam)," he said, adding that PAS would conduct a post-mortem on the Pendang results.

PAS central committee member Dr Hatta Ramli echoed Hayati's concerns but conceded that "it was a good fight".

However, he claimed that the "blatant bribery, vote buying and excessive use of government machinery" by BN was "open and glaring" over the eight-day campaign which started on nomination day, July 10.

Unusual high turnout

During the campaign period, BN ministers including deputy prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Kedah menteri besar Syed Razak Syed Zain launched multi-million ringgit projects, approved grants for land, and presented loans to traders and students.

Hatta questioned the unusual high voter turnout of 86.07 percent on polling day, which he considered "rather strange".

"The fact that BN managed to get almost all the people out to vote was really surprising. But we are happy that 22,585 people voted for us," he said.

However, PAS can dwell on the fact that there were positive signs for them as well in the by-elections.

Keadilan secretary-general Sahri Bahri said Malay support for PAS was still "intact" as the number of people who voted for Hayati had increased by 129 votes, compared to Fadzil in the 1999 general elections .

"Mahathir's conclusion that Umno has recovered Malay support is not very convincing," he said.

"Moreover, BN had an unfair advantage over the opposition due to its excessive use of all government machinery especially the media."