Azman’s victory means PN now holds 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats in Kedah.

The Election Commission reported a 68.95% voter turnout. There were 753 spoilt votes and 133 unreturned ballots.

Azman recorded 51,637 votes while Sofee claimed 35,377. Barisan Nasional’s C Sivaraj had 2,983 votes despite giving way to PH for the seat.

Independent candidate Sreanandha Rao had 846 votes, followed by Pejuang’s Hamzah Abd Rahman (424) and Warisan’s Bakhri Hashim (149).

“I believe that this is a clear message from the people that they reject the PH-BN mixed government … and oppose the appointment of (BN chairman) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is facing corruption charges, as a deputy prime minister,” said Azman in a statement.

“It is also a clear signal that our new prime minister needs to be careful as the public is constantly judging his decisions.”

Azman added that he hoped to serve as a strong member of the opposition and would closely monitor the government’s actions.

The Padang Serai election was deferred to today when PH candidate M Karupaiya, who won the seat in GE14, died three days before the Nov 19 general election (GE15).

Karupaiya, who died of a heart attack, won the seat in the 2018 general election with a majority of over 8,000 votes.

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