KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's closely watched state polls have ended in a "3-3" status quo outcome between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's unity government and the opposition alliance, Perikatan Nasional (PN).
The Election Commission announced officially on Saturday night that PN had retained Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu, with unofficial results showing the coalition had swept to more than two-thirds super majorities in these states.
Datuk Seri Anwar's Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and its unity government ally Barisan Nasional (BN) had officially retained Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang, after about seven million votes were tallied to see which party will govern six of the federation's 13 states.
Selangor was the subject of both a concerted assault by the PN coalition as well as a robust defence by PH, with Mr Anwar spending the most time there during the two-week campaign.
While PH and BN managed to triumph in Selangor, PN made huge gains on Saturday compared with the last vote in 2018. Unofficial results peg PH-BN winning 34 of the 56 seats, while PN scooped up the remaining 22 seats, denying its rival a two-thirds majority of the assembly in Malaysia's richest state.
This story is from the August 13, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the August 13, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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