The Barisan Nasional has won another parliamentary seat uncontested following the withdrawal of an opposition candidate today.

Incumbent member of parliament for Kota Tinggi in Johor, Syed Hamid Albar today became the 15th BN candidate to win without contest afer his challenger Abu Bakar Sakak of PAS withdrew his candidacy.

Kota Tinggi parliamentary constituency returning officer Abdullah Jaafar confirmed the withdrawal of the PAS candidate at 5.25pm, much to the delight of about 200 BN supporters.

Under new EC guidelines, all nominees are allowed to withdraw their candidacy within three days from nomination day but their RM10,000 deposit would be forfeited.

When contacted, PAS Johor liaison secretary Amin Sairan confirmed the withdrawal of the party's candidate, but refused to comment on the reason behind it

However sources close to the party say that Abu Bakar could have been "threatened" by unknown persons to withdraw.

This was disputed by Kota Tinggi Umno leaders who claimed that they too were in the dark over the sudden turn of events.

Grateful incumbent

The caretaker foreign affairs minister was the favourite to win in this Malay-majority seat. In 1999, Syed Hamid defeated Keadilan's Rosdin Taha Rahman by a whopping majority of 32,161 votes.

Syed Hamid obtained 37,906 votes as opposed to Rosdin's 5,651.

According to a Bernama report, a teary Syed Hamid said that he was grateful for "Abu Bakar's change of heart".

"He (Abu Bakar) has decided to withdraw...people are aware that Umno is the best platform for our country's struggle...I am overwhelmed," he was quoted as saying.

He also thanked Abu Bakar, an Imam and a former visiting teacher, for giving him the opportunity to return and serve the people in Kota Tinggi, adding that he would now concentrate on helping other BN candidates.

Easy win

Today's victory is the ruling coalition's second in Johor and 15th overall since nominations closed yesterday for the March 21 general election - the best since the formation of the BN coalition in 1974.

BN's Umno candidate Azalina Othman Said won the newly formed Pengerang parliamentary seat unchallenged after her opponent PAS' Fikri Sudari was disqualified over his alleged bankrupt status.

Fikri was also to have contested the Penawar state seat, which now falls to Umno's Dr Mohd Azam Razuan.

The rest of the BN's uncontested seats are seven from Sabah and six from Sarawak. The ruling coalition also won seven state seats uncontested - Sabah (4), one each from Perak, Selangor and Johor.

PAS also won one state seat uncontested in Senggarang in Johor after the BN/Umno candidate Shamsiah Rashidah Ibrahim's nomination was rejected on technicality.

The returning officer did not accept her nomination as the seconder who inked her form was not a registered voter in the constituency.