Sungai Kandis by-election a double slap in the face for Najib and Hadi

Earlier today, I had asked whether the UMNO candidate for Sungai Kandis, Lokman Adam will get more or less than the combined votes of 19,091 votes which UMNO/PAS candidates totalled in the 14GE.

In the 14th General Election, the UMNO candidate won 11,518 votes while the PAS candidate polled 7,573 votes – totaling 19,091 votes. The winning PKR/PH candidate in the 14GE won with 23.998 votes.

The result of the Sungai Kandis by-election have been announced, and the winning PKR/PH candidate, Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni polled 15,427 votes while the UMNO/BN candidate Lokman Adam polled 9,585 votes, yielding a majority for Zawawi of 5,842 votes.

With the voter turnout at 49.4% as compared to 86% in the 14th General Election, the winning PKR/PH candidate polled 64% of the vote secured in the 14GH.

If the UMNO candidate, Lokman secured 64% of the UMNO votes in the 14GE, he would get 7,371 votes, leaving 2,214 votes probably coming from the PAS’ 7,573 votes in the 14GE, i.e. some 29% of the PAS vote in the 14GE.

The Sungai Kandi by-election result is therefore a double slap in the face for Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the PAS President, Haji Abdul Hadi Awang.

Najib had unprecedentedly campaigned very hard in Sungai Kandi by-election hoping for a political miracle that that can lead to a political turnaround of popular support for him. He also hoped to use the Sungai Kandi by-election to tell the country, and in particular UMNO chieftains, that he is a greater power than anyone in UMNO.

But Najib failed miserably on both counts, as Lokman could not get the 11,518 votes polled by the UMNO candidate in the 14GE, polling 1,933 votes less than the UMNO/BN in the general elections.

In the Sungai Kandis by-election, several PAS national leaders have as good as asking PAS members and supporters to vote for Lokman, but Lokman could not even reach 30% of the PAS votes in the 14GE.