KUALA LUMPUR: Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal today rejected a notion that Barisan Nasional's victory in the Nenggiri by-election on Saturday indicates that Perikatan Nasional's influence is no longer strong.
Referring to a comment by a pundit, the Machang member of parliament said generalising BN's victory as a threat to PN's influence was 'too farfetched' as Nenggiri had been BN's stronghold even before the Kelantan state election last year.
He added that even in the last state election, PN had won the seat with a narrow margin of 810 votes, so BN's victory could not be used as a barometer to explain the state of PN's support, particularly among Malay voters.
"Even Mahkota (which will have a by-election on Sept 28) has always been a BN seat, so there are many ways to analyse the data (Nenggiri results).
"But I'm optimistic that PN still holds a certain amount of support, especially among Malays, so we just need to regroup and improve our strategy," Wan Ahmad Fayhsal told the 'News Straits Times'.
He said many factors had led to BN's victory, such as better strategy and candidate selection, and greater resources at its disposal.
BN recaptured Nenggiri with a 3,352-vote majority, leading some pundits to suggest a shift in the political landscape.
From: Shahrul