Batang Kali assemblyman Muhaimin Harith Abdullah Sani lost the race for the Hulu Selangor Bersatu chief’s post to Ruslee Jamaludin, who obtained 26 votes, Berita Harian reported.

Muhaimin came in last in a three-cornered contest with only six votes, while Bersatu’s candidate for the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election in May 2024, Khairul Azhari Saut, garnered 13 votes.

Formerly of PKR, Muhaimin was elected the Batang Kali assemblyman in the 2023 Selangor state election, winning the seat with a 2,978-vote majority over Umno’s Isa Abu Kasim.

Yesterday, Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal was also soundly defeated in the race to become the head of Bersatu’s Machang division.

The Bersatu Supreme Council member could garner only 26 votes in the divisional elections, far behind Kamaruddin Ab Kadir, who defended the post with 103 votes.

Wan Fayhsal was formerly the head of Bersatu’s youth wing and was elected to the party’s 20-member Supreme Council during the party elections last November.

Kelantan Bersatu chief Kamaruddin Nor dismissed claims that Wan Fayhsal’s defeat was due to a boycott by the party’s grassroots in Machang.