Muhyiddin: Padang Serai result a 'no-confidence vote' against govt

Updated at 5.30pm with a statement by Kedah Umno information chief Shaiful Hazizy Zainol Abidin.

The Padang Serai election result was a vote of no confidence on the new federal government, said Perikatan Nasional leader Muhyiddin Yassin.

“Voters are disappointed with the lies from Pakatan Harapan and BN leaders during the general election campaign. A lot of their supporters voted for PN (in Padang Serai).

“To me, the lies told by Harapan and BN are the ‘biggest electoral fraud ever’ and (last night) the voters in Padang Serai and Tioman have given a clear signal they do not approve of the two coalitions,” said Muhyiddin (above).

The Padang Serai election saw PN winning 56.5 percent of the total votes cast and thus wrested the seat from Harapan, which it has held for three terms.

As for the Tioman election, BN clung to the seat by a sliver following a massive vote swing towards PN.

PN has won 13 out of 14 parliamentary seats in Kedah and all seats in Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu - a phenomenon that some observers described as “PN’s northern crescent”.

With PN’s victory in Padang Serai last night, the coalition now has 74 seats in the Dewan Rakyat while its component party Bersatu has 31 seats. In contrast, Umno has only 26.

Meanwhile, BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi thanked vote canvassers from his coalition and Harapan for their work.

“Although our majority is not very high, our cooperation led to BN retaining Tioman based on the spirit of the unity government for the stability and prosperity of Pahang,” wrote Zahid on his Facebook page.

He also paid tribute to Tiktok users who helped BN’s campaign.

PN’s not a good indicator

In a statement today, Kedah Umno information chief Shaiful Hazizy Zainol Abidin disagreed that PN's victory is a good indicator to assess people's rejection of the Harapan-BN unity government.

Instead, he said, this is the best time for them to reevaluate their existing strengths to ensure the synergy between the allies in the unity government is maximised.

"For me, the defeat in Padang Serai is not the best indicator to surmise that people have rejected the Harapan-BN government. This is because the cooperation of Harapan and BN secured a victory in the Tioman state seat.

"Compare to Tioman, the announcement that both coalitions working with each other came quite late for Padang Serai parliamentary seat. This may have caused some confusion among the voters and they did not obtain comprehensive information about this Harapan-BN cooperation.

"In addition, the opposition also played up racism, narrow religious sentiments that frighten the community during the election campaign," Shaiful said.

He said the focus should be on the upcoming state election, which will be held next year.

However, Shaiful remained confident that Kedah voters will swing back to BN after an explanation is given to the people on the strength of the unity government.

"God willing, the wind of change will happen in Kedah in the upcoming state election," he said.

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