More popular votes but you still lost, Azmin tells Mukhriz

SG LIMAU PKR deputy president Azmin Ali took a shot at Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir today, teasing him on his failure to secure an Umno vice-presidency despite garnering more popular votes at the party elections last week.

"Before this, we asked that popular votes be used (to decide an election winner), (BN) did not want (to). Now, regret," teased Azmin, as he patted Mukhriz on the shoulder as they waited for the BN and PAS candidates to filed their nomination papers at Dewan Tok Madi in Yan this morning.

Mukhriz took this in good humour, laughing in response, although he did not say a word.

Mukhriz garnered more popular votes that Hishammuddin Hussein, but it was Hishammuddin who took the vice-presidency as more divisions voted for him.

His loss is also seen as a setback for his father, the once influential and popular former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was seen to be backing Mukhriz's political involvement.

Pakatan could not form the government in Putrajaya despite obtaining 52 percent of the popular vote against BN's 47 percent.

The atmosphere outside the hall in Yan this morning appeared a little tense, with BN and PAS supporters engaging in loud banter against each other, albeit 100 metres away.

Cordiality among the opponents

But inside the compound, where top guns of the two parties wait for their candidates, the situation was very different.

A sense of cordiality and friendliness permeated as the Pakatan leaders visited the tent of the BN leaders, about 30 metres opposite theirs.

Other than Azmin, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and vice-president Mahfuz Omar were seen chatting with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Hishamuddin and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who was also reinstated as an Umno vice-president.

"Congratulations," the Pakatan leaders said to their Umno counterparts who retained their posts, putting smiles across the faces of their opponents despite anticipating an intense fight for the Sungai Limau seat over a 12 day campaign that ends at midnight on Nov 3.

Polling day is Nov 4, when the 26,000 odd voters - 93 percent of whom are Malays - decide whether to continue to support PAS, which has held the seat for five terms through former Kedah menteri besar Azizan Abdul Razak.

Azizan, 69, died of heart complications on Sept 26, paving the way for this by-election in the rural Kedah seat that falls under the Jerai parliamentary seat.

PAS is fielding religious teacher Mohd Azam Samat, 37, in the straight fight against BN's Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim, a former university lecturer.