(Bloomberg) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's ruling alliance received a setback from voters, losing a parliamentary seat to the main opposition coalition at a by-election for the first time.
The Barisan Nasional candidate won by a majority of more than 15,000 votes in the Tanjung Piai constituency in the southern state of Johor, according to the Election Commission on Saturday. Pakatan Harapan had almost 11,000 fewer votes than when its candidate narrowly won the seat in last year's general election.
The defeat by such a large margin was unexpected, said Mahathir in a statement on Monday. A post mortem that is “detailed, serious and frank” to find out why they lost will be conducted, he said.
Pakatan Harapan unexpectedly swept to power in May 2018 with promises to crack down on corruption, move away from race-based policies and bring down the price of goods and services. But slower-than-expected reforms, living cost woes, and bickering among leaders have led to disillusionment among some voters, and the alliance has been defeated in four of nine by-elections since then.
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The Tanjung Piai by-election -- triggered by the death of the incumbent -- saw the two biggest opposition parties, United Malays National Organization and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, campaigning together for the first time since signing a unity charter in September. Along with the Malaysian Chinese Association, they set aside ideological differences to gain victory in the ethnically-diverse constituency.
Pakatan Harapan's top leaders including Mahathir and his designated successor Anwar Ibrahim made multiple trips to Tanjung Piai to convince voters to keep them in power.
“The majority that the opposition garnered is a shock and it's a clear message to all PH leaders,” Anwar said in a Facebook post after the outcome of the vote was announced. “We need to learn from the result of this by-election. We also need to gain Malaysians' confidence on PH's policies and make a positive effort to fulfill our promises.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Anisah Shukry in Kuala Lumpur at ashukry2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, ;Yudith Ho at yho35@bloomberg.net, Chan Tien Hin
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