So, my source in Pas was accurate in his predictions for both these polls.
On the eve of polling (5 March, 10.28pm – see Coveritlive below) he had predicted a BN win by 3,500 votes in Merlimau (actual 3,643) and a BN majority of 2,500 in Kerdau (actual 2,724).
It’s going to be straight fights – BN vs Pas – for the Kerdau and Merlimau by-elections, the 15th and 16th by-elections since the 2008 general election.
The score as it stands now is 8-6 in the Pakatan’s favour. The BN has a good chance of levelling the score, if, as many expect, they win both these both by-elections. In fact, a source within Pas, who has been accurate in his predictions so far, told me the party has little chance of winning these by-elections.
These by-elections will be the prelude for the Sarawak state election, expected to be held in early April 2011. The BN will be watching all these polls carefully, and if all goes well for them, maybe we can expect a general election a few months later.
BN has defeated Pas in the Tenang by-election with a larger majority of 3,707. Voter turnout was revised downwards to 67 per cent. Live updates and discussion of the Tenang by-election outcome.
Photo of the day: A man said to be Muhyiddin wading through knee-deep floods in Tenang today as an aide shields him with an umbrella in case he gets even more drenched - Photo from twitpic
Another by-election, another ‘bombshell’ (well, not quite as we already saw it coming). This time in the form of another PKR MP ‘seeing the light’ on the eve of polling for the Tenang by-election.
N Gobalakrishnan, a former MIC Youth secretary general (1993-1999) who joined Keadilan in April 1999, is the sixth PKR MP to quit the party since the 2008 general election. How times have changed. He was detained under the ISA for his role in the reformasi movement. See Aliran – ‘Why has Appa been arrested?’ And in this interview with Aliran after his release, Gobala insisted “Reformasi will never die”:
Reformasi can never die. A person can die, but reformasi will never die because reformation will be talked and talked about every day. Every individual will want to bring about reformation. If there’s a person who says that he doesn’t want to bring about reformation, that means the man is brain-dead… They can put down the organisation, they can put down the gathering of the reformists, but reformation (itself) can never die, and the government can never kill reformation.
Live updates on Nomination Day for the Tenang by-election.