The extent of Barisan National's (BN) success in the Malay heartland came as a surprise to all, with BN sweeping of 28 out of 32 state seats in Terengganu and nearly half of the state seats in Kelantan, not to mention winning most of the seats in Kedah and Perlis.

PAS was blind-sided, having set their eyes on expanding its control over Kedah and Perlis, but instead seeing voters rejecting their rule in the East Coast.

While PAS retains leadership of the Kelantan government by the narrowest of margins, politics being what it is, power could change hands any time, should a couple of state assemblypersons decide to switch camp.