“Mahathir must accept the fact that he lost. He doesn’t have any concrete evidence to support his claims,” Suhaimi told FMT.

“Sometimes when we lose, we come up with excuses as we cannot accept the outcome. We need to look at the real reasons behind the defeat,” he said.

He said he had no reason to bribe voters as he thought he would lose to Mahathir, who had been an MP for nine terms and won in Langkawi in 2018.

Suhaimi, who is head of Kedah Bersatu, contested on a Perikatan Nasional ticket in the November general election.

“Why would I spend money (on bribes) if I knew I would lose to Mahathir? That doesn’t make sense. I am ‘Mr Nobody’, and I never thought I would beat him,” said Suhaimi.

Mahathir also claimed he lost over 14,000 votes due to such corrupt practices.

He lost his deposit in GE15 after receiving 4,566 out of a total of 48,123 votes in a five-cornered contest. Suhaimi won with a majority of 13,518 votes.