ROMPIN: Malaysia's Barisan Nasional BN coalition retained the Tioman state seat on Wednesday, defeating the rival Perikatan Nasional PN by a narrow margin of 573 votes.
Mohd Johari Hussain, the incumbent candidate, won a total of 8,080 votes, defeating Nor Idayu Hashim, who garnered 7,507.
The three other candidates were Pakatan Harapran's PH Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly, Pejuang's Osman A Bakar and Independent candidate Sulaiman Bakar, who received 784, 79 and 58 votes respectively.
BN is part of the unity government led by Pakatan Harapan leader and Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Malaysia went to the polls on November 19. After PN candidate Md Yunus Ramli died of heart complications, the election for Tioman had to be postponed.
Voting for Padang Serai parliamentary seat was postponed after PH candidate M Karupaiya died on November 16 after he collapsed during campaigning.
The contest for Padang Serai seat was going to be a six-sided fight between candidates from PH, BN, PN, Pejuang, Warisan and an independent.
On December 2, BN agreed to give way to PH for the parliamentary seat.