Corrected at 1:50pm, 5 Oct 2009 Outside the BN headquarters in Bagan Pinang prior to nomination day on 3 Oct “IF the Barisan Nasional (BN) loses, it will be catastrophic,” Umno Youth chief and Rembau Member of Parliament Khairy Jamaluddin tells The Nut Graph in a phone interview. Talk about high stakes. But he is [...]

PAS supporters on nomination day, 17 Aug 2009 (Pic courtesy of theSun) THE Permatang Pasir by-election was an unquestionable success for PAS and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR). PAS’s share of the total votes cast, excluding spoilt votes, went from 66.39% in the March 2008 elections to 65.50% — a drop of barely 1%. The reduction [...]

RANDOM, general observations about covering by-elections since March 2008: There has been a lack of substantive campaign issues. Umno always plays the race and religion card, and thinks prosperity and development are the only things that will make everyone happy. Of the eight by-elections in the past 18 months, I think the Kuala Terengganu by-election [...]

PAS candidate Mohd Salleh Man (right), Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Guan Eng on nomination day, 17 Aug (Pic courtesy of theSun) IT was a by-election the Barisan Nasional (BN) knew it would lose, but had to fight anyway. Unable to use the same excuse it had for opting out of Penanti, the BN went into Permatang [...]

Corrected on 25 Aug 2009 at 10.20pm Updated at 10.35pm on 25 Aug 2009 Mohd Salleh Man celebrates his victory PERMATANG PASIR, 25 Aug 2009: PAS has retained the Permatang Pasir state seat with a majority of 4,551 votes in a straight fight against the Barisan Nasional (BN). PAS candidate Mohd Salleh Man won the [...]

Updated 5.35pm on 25 Aug 2009 PERMATANG PASIR, 25 Aug 2009: Polling in Permatang Pasir ended at 5pm today with 73.1% or 14,832 voters, out of the 20,290 registered voters, having cast their ballots, the Election Commission (EC) said. On Twitter, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang predicted a PAS win with a majority of [...]