Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian have officially won their seats in today’s Sarawak state election.
Abdul Taib retained his Balingian seat with a majority of 5,154 votes by securing 6,210 votes, beating his cousin Salleh Jafaruddin who received 1,056 votes and PKR’s Suriati Abdullah who received 871 votes.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has touted Baru as the state chief minister should the Opposition coalition win the election.
Baru won the Ba’Kelalan seat with a majority of 473 votes by securing 2,505 votes against Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Willie Liau’s 2,032 votes.
As of 8.30pm, official results show a BN victory in 36 seats, DAP winning five seats, and PKR winning three seats.
DAP, however, predicted a win in 13 out of the 15 seats it contested.
“For now, it looks like DAP will score a victory in 10 seats (and) win three seats. It looks like two will be lost,” said Zairil Khir Johari, political secretary to DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.
PAS has conceded defeat in all five seats that it contested, which were Tanjung Datu, Muara Tuang, Sadong Jaya, Sebuyau and Beting Maro.
