Outraged by allegations of electoral irregularities - phantom voters, bribery and fraud - Parti Keadilan Rakyat had decided to dispute the results of the by-election.

The ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, which won the crucial Ijok by-election with a bigger majority of 1,850, has been accused of electoral foul-play by the opposition.

In the wake of the by-election defeat, Khalid announced his party's decision to contest the results at a press conference in Kampung Ijok this evening.

"Given the overwhelmingly high voter turnout in Ijok - the highest in the country's history - there is much to be suspicious about. The high turnout is extremely suspect. In one voting area, the turnout exceeded 95 per cent.

"If taken into consideration, the number of voters who have passed away and voters who have no identity cards, which number 1,000, the percentage of the turnout would reach 90 per cent," he said.

At 8:45pm, Election Commission returning officer Haris Kasim announced that BN's MIC candidate K Parthiban bagged 5,884 votes while PKR's Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, 4,034.

The majority is 1,850, which is higher than the 2004 general election result, where BN won with a majority of 1,649. The ruling coalition added 201 votes to its previous majority.

Khalid pointed that the party has evidence of residents promised money by BN after they voted for them and voters who arrived only to find their votes used by unknown persons.

EC fails to stop abuses

The election campaign, which lasted nine days, was ridden with widespread incidents of violence and intimidation by police, eliciting the label 'dirtiest election in Malaysian history' from Khalid.

"This is not a defeat for our party [...] this is an insult to our democratic system.

"The EC has not only failed to stop the fraud and abuses, including political corruption. It has been evidently biased against the opposition," he asserted.

Khalid, who is also PKR's treasurer, said they will be presenting these evidence to the public and to the international community once all details have been gathered.

Expressing a renewed spirit, he said he will continue to visit Ijok to meet old and new friends in achieving the development ideas he had hoped for the people.

Watch below a 2-minute video on Khalid Ibrahim's reaction to his defeat