KULIM: Kedah Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar has likened Perikatan Nasional's victory in Padang Serai parliamentary election to the Saudi Arabia football team's performance in the World Cup 2022.
Using the Saudi Arabia's victory against the Argentinians in the competition as a metaphor, Mahfuz said while PN was bragging about its win, it was PH which ultimately formed the federal government.
"PN is like the Saudi Arabia team in the World Cup competition, they defeated champions team Argentina (in the group stage) but at the end they failed to qualify to the quarter-final stage.
"Congratulations to Sanusi (Kedah PN chairman Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor) for becoming like the Saudi Arabia team in World Cup, they won against Argentina but did not advance to the quarter-final, that's how far they can go," he said.
Mahfuz, who is also Amanah vice-president claimed that if the people were disgusted with PH, the coalition would have not won the most seats in the 15th General Election (GE15) and subsequently formed the federal government.
He claimed that PN's victory in Padang Serai was a continuity to its wave of support achieved during the Nov 24 polls.
"It is the same wave as before, PN capitalised on fanning racial and religious sentiment to shore up support by making up false stories that the Malays will finish off if they vote for PH.
"In reality, PN feared of losing the votes, so the created the fear (among the Malay voters)," he told the New Straits Times when contacted today.
Mahfuz was responding to Sanusi's claims that PN's victory in wresting Padang Serai parliamentary seat from PH with over 16,000 majority votes yesterday reflected the people's disgust with the PH-Barisan Nasional pact.
"If the majority votes were between 1,000 to 2,000 votes, it showed that the people rejected (PH-BN).
"But if the majority votes are in the tens of thousands, it showed that the people are disgusted (with PH-BN). That is the significance of the results in Padang Serai to the current political situation," he told reporters after PN candidate Datuk Azman Nasrudin was announced as the winner late last night.
PN ended PH's three-terms dominance in Padang Serai with Azman's victory in the six-cornered fight with a a 16,260 majority votes.
Azman, who is Lunas assemblyman pulled 51,637 votes – over half of the total votes cast yesterday, defeating closest opponent from PH, Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak who tailed in the second position by securing 35,377 votes.
PN extended its grip in Kedah, adding the 14th parliamentary seats after its surprise massive victory of sweeping 13 seats in the Nov 24 polls.
Sanusi, who is also Kedah menteri besar, added that even BN's support for PH in the Padang Serai polls was not enough to halt the people's wish and aspiration in supporting PN.
The Pas election director added that the victory in Padang Serai signalled that a dominant performance by PN in the upcoming state elections was not beyond reach.
"We are considering to hold the election earlier in March or to wait for the state assembly to be automatically dissolved by July.
"Nevertheless, going by the massive majority we amassed here, we would have achieved a 36-0 result in the state election should we held it simultaneously with the recent GE15," he said.
He said the win was also a reflection on the present state of politics and PN's values which he claimed was hard work and not practising "vengeful politics".
"We don't go and dig for other people's mistakes, I think our harmonious politics in Kedah was the recipe for our success," he said.
Meanwhile, Sanusi also expressed hope for the new federal government to be fair to Kedah despite PN's success winning 14 out of 15 parliamentary seats in the state.
"The government has to respect the decision made by the voters here. They have rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, so the federal government needs to consider this," he added.
The Padang Serai parliamentary seat was previously held by PH's M. Karupaiya who secured 8,813 vote-majority win, beating MCA candidate Datuk Dr Leong Yong Kong and Mohammad Sobri Osman from Pas in the previous general election.
Karupaiya, 69, was nominated again by PH on Nov 5 to defend the seat. However, he died on Nov 16, two days after being admitted to Kulim Hospital due to a heart attack while campaigning.
Following his death, the Election Commission had decided to postpone the Padang Serai polls to Dec 7.