Archive - 6 May 2013

Of the 579 candidates who contested the state assembly seats, 128 lost their election deposits, with independent candidates making up 75.

COMMENT 'The rakyat's endorsement for the Pakatan state gov't is a clear-cut thumbing of the nose at Najib's leadership in the country and the state.'

UPDATED 7PM Former PSC for polls reform member Anthony Loke wants supplier to be held accountable for the complaints on the ink.

COMMENT Pakatan made incredible inroads in rural parts of Selangor and the Khalid Ibrahim factor is a likely contributor.

Anwar Ibrahim says he will be addressing the rakyat for the first time post-GE13 at a rally on Wednesday, 8.30pm at the Kelana Jaya stadium.

ANALYSIS Still, going by voting patterns in Sabah this time around, the stage is being set for a keen battle in the 14th general election.

ANALYSIS Sabah polls results indicate preference for two-party system, considering multi-cornered fights took a toll on non-BN parties.

FREE YOURSAY 'All are welcome to vote - Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Indonesian, Burmese... just get your IC from the NRD.'

The Agong had, in 1970, witnessed the oath-taking by Najib's father - Abdul Razak Hussein - as the second prime minister.

UPDATED 6.35PM Ahmad, who was Nik Aziz’s deputy and Kelantan PAS deputy commissioner I, takes his oath of office at 4pm today.

UPDATED 6.10PM ‘We will convene a people's tribunal to consider evidence, and hear from witnesses,' says Ambiga.

ANALYSIS A strong focus on wresting parliamentary seats from BN's 'fixed deposits' saw Pakatan lose its grip on constituencies that it had won in GE12.

MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek said he will stay out of the party's internal election that will take place later this year.

In yesterday's polls, SUPP lost in the Chinese-majority and urban seats of Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sarikei, Lanang, Sibu and Miri.

INTERVIEW He says he is not contemplating retirement from politics yet, as he believes that his work 'is not done'. [VIDEO]

'In the next round of elections within Umno, you will see some dissidents... asking for Najib to resign,' says a party source.

We're lucky to still be in gov't at the federal level. To strengthen our position, we need to re-brand, says the ex-deputy higher education minister.

KINIBIZ Although the M'sian stocks have been underperforming since the start of the year, they may strengthen.

FREE YOURSAY 'Pakatan won votes from all races and religions in the urban areas while BN retained their rural base.'

The 168 women candidates who contested parliamentary and state seats generally received good support from voters in GE13.

COMMENT Unless Umno can reconcile the hopes of those Malays who have rejected Umno, it will eventually face a Malay tsunami.

Two were arrested in Malacca and another five in Wangsa Maju, says the election watchdog, which accuses the EC of several irregularities.

Monitoring throughout the day by MCMC and service providers found that the telecommunications systems was operating as usual.

He says the Tengku Bendahara of Kedah will receive the instrument of appointment from BN chairperson and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Of the 270 Independent candidates who contested, 266 lost their deposits for failing to secure one-eight of the votes cast.

UPDATED 5.20PM Politicians are not the only ones tweeting their thoughts on GE13. Others join them in Twitter Jaya.

A mixed bag of fortunes for the new faces fielded by the BN and Pakatan Rakyat in yesterday's 13th general election.

Major casualties were veep Devamany (Sg Siput), sec- gen Murugesan (Kota Raja) and info chief Mogan (Telok Kemang).

UPDATED 12.04PM Kedah BN chief Ahmad Bashah says five years of Pakatan rule in the northern state have sent the voters back to BN.

Among the casualties are Kong Cho Ha (Lumut), Raja Nong Chik (Lembah Pantai), Chor Chee Heung (Alor Setar) and Benard Dompok (Penampang).

The opposition coalition wins eight more seats as compared with the 36 it secured in the 2008 polls. BN seats drop to only 12 this time, from 20.

Cheating and violence condoned.

UPDATED 11.36PM Out of the 133 parliamentary seats won by BN, Umno contributed 88. It contested 119 seats this time.

Ghani, who lost to Kit Siang, says despite retaining its two-thirds majority, it is the state BN’s worst result to date.

But Perak BN which won by three seats dismisses the claim, noting that it too has lessons to learn from losses in Chinese-majority seats.

It bags 70 percent of the total number of parliament seats it contested, and crowned its success by winning Gelang Patah.

Last night’s incident, which saw four arrests, was triggered by a rumour that the officers were carrying ‘phantom’ votes in their cars.

Its deputy chair says too many ‘untrue stories’ are being spread via social media and are meant to tarnish the EC’s image.

‘The results prove the Chinese community doesn't appreciate the gov't, they just want change without considering...’

COMMENT It is time for national reconciliation. For those who have won should do as much soul-searching as those who have lost.

He took exception to Chua Soi Lek's remark that the results of the polls had resulted in a 'two-race' system.

BN won the GE with a simple majority and the PM said the Chinese community had voted overwhelmingly for the opposition.

The 19 DAP candidates in the state managed not only to retain their seats but also increased their majorities across the board.