BN confident of clean sweep in Perlis

comments     Nash Rahman     Published     Updated

Barisan Nasional today expressed confidence of winning the three state seats in Perlis which were lost to PAS in the last general election.

Perlis Umno information chief Abu Bakar Ismail said the ruling coalition will face the coming election in a more stable political environment.

"We can no longer compare the political situation now to that of 1999. The opposition benefitted from the deep split within Umno then, to win those seats," he told malaysiakini when contacted.

The sacking and subsequent jailing of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy and abuse of power prior to the election caused a fissure in the party.

The opposition, especially PAS, which had formed an alliance to contest against the ruling front made strong inroads into several states, including Kedah Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's home state.

Apart from retaining control of Kelantan which they won in the previous election PAS had also captured neighbouring Terengganu in the1999 polls.

In Perlis, the opposition party won the Sanglang, Santan and Guar Sanji seats with a majority of 333 votes, 269 votes and 603 votes respectively.

BN retained the remaining 12 seats, eight with a reduced majority of below 1,000 votes, including the Tambun Tulang constituency held by Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim.

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