KLUANG — Barisan Nasional (BN) retained the Mahkota state seat after its candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah (picture) secured a resounding 20,648-vote majority win over his Perikatan Nasional (PN) challenger in the by-election held today. 

Syed Hussien, the Kluang UMNO youth chief and representing the Unity Government, garnered 27,995 votes, comfortably surpassing PN’s Mohamad Haizan Jaafar, who received 7,347 votes.

The official results were announced by Returning Officer Azurawati Wahid at the Mahkota by-election official vote tallying centre at Dewan Tunku Ibrahim Ismail here tonight.

She also announced that 339 ballot papers were rejected, and 24 were not returned.

Azurawati thanked all parties for their cooperation throughout the by-election process, which began with nominations on Sept 14. 

Voter turnout for the by-election stood at 53.84 per cent, she added. — BERNAMA