PM Anwar's coalition secures victory in Selangor by-election

DAP retains Kuala Kubu Baharu despite talk of voters’ doubts about unity govt

- Zunaira Saieed

KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's ruling coalition secured a comfortable victory in a Selangor by-election on May 11, in a vote seen as a gauge of whether a slew of recent controversies had soured support for Malaysia's ruling alliance.

Ms Pang Sock Tao from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), one of the four members of Datuk Seri Anwar's Pakatan Harapan (PH) alliance, polled 14,000 votes, or about 57.2 per cent of the valid votes, to retain the DAP's stronghold in Kuala Kubu Baharu.

KKB, as it is known, is located about an hour's drive north of Kuala Lumpur. The vote was called after the three-term incumbent, Ms Lee Kee Hiong of the DAP, died of ovarian cancer on March 21.

The candidate for the opposition Perikatan Nasional alliance, Mr Khairul Azhari Saut, received 10,131 votes (41.4 per cent) in the fourway contest in the non-Malay-majority seat of 40,226 voters. The total turnout was 61.5 per cent.

Malays made up 49.3 per cent of the total voters, Chinese 30.6, Indians 17.9, and others 2.1 per cent.