10 out of 34 women candidates win seats

Ten women win seats in the Johor state election as BN secures seven victories and PH claims three

JOHOR BAHRU: Ten of the 34 women candidates who contested in the 16th Johor State Election won seats in the State Legislative Assembly, underscoring continued confidence in women’s leadership in the state’s political landscape.

Of the total, seven candidates were from Barisan Nasional (BN), while three represented Pakatan Harapan (PH).

The seven victorious BN representatives are Nadhirah Afiqah Abdull Rahim, who won the Serom seat, Nor Rashidah Ramli (Parit Raja), Alwiyah Talib (Endau), Norlizah Noh (Johor Lama), Fauziah Misri (Penawar), Chan San San (Johor Jaya) and Hasrunizah Hassan (Pulai Sebatang).

PH’s women candidates who won their seats were Felicia Poh Rui Ling in Penggaram, Chu Poh Yee in Mengkibol and Kartiyaini Jeyapalan in Skudai.

Ledang Puteri UMNO chief Nadhirah Afiqah, who was making her electoral debut, successfully defended the Serom seat for BN by securing a majority of 9,406 votes against Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Mahfidz Omar and Ahmad Nazari Abd Hamid of PH.

Nor Rashidah’s victory in Parit Raja saw increased support for BN after she garnered 19,572 votes for a majority of 13,576 votes in a three-cornered fight against PH candidate Shazwan Dzainal Abidin and Dr Mohamed Maliki Mohamed Rapiee of PN, compared with a majority of only 4,219 votes in the 2022 Johor state election.

Alwiyah, meanwhile, completed a hat-trick by securing the seat for a third term, winning by a majority of 3,041 votes in a four-cornered contest against PN candidate Hasnul Hakimi Hussien, Jati Awang of the Malaysian Orang Asli Party (ASLI) and Saiful Nizam Samat of PH.

Incumbent Johor Lama assemblyman Norlizah recorded a resounding victory with a majority of 16,344 votes in a three-cornered contest against PN candidate Aisah Esa and the youngest candidate in the election, Danish Hossman Abd Rahman of PH.

Fauziah also secured a landslide victory in Penawar with a majority of 15,776 votes in a three-cornered contest involving candidates from BN, PH and PN, while Chan pulled off an upset by capturing the Johor Jaya seat, regarded as a DAP stronghold. Chan obtained 35,971 votes to defeat a PH candidate, an Independent candidate and a Parti Bersama Malaysia (Bersama) candidate.

Incumbent Pulai Sebatang assemblyman Hasrunizah also successfully defended her seat in a straight fight against Haniff @ Ghazali Hosman of PH with a majority of 13,590 votes, an increase of 6,325 votes compared with the 2022 state election.

In addition, PH’s young candidate for Penggaram, Poh, 28, recorded her maiden victory in defending the seat for the coalition after defeating Boo Chin Liong (BN) by a majority of 4,137 votes in a straight fight.

Chu retained PH’s Mengkibol seat with a majority of 4,213 votes after defeating Yap Zhi Peng of BN.

Skudai-born lawyer Kartiyaini, who faced a four-cornered contest against Tan Hiang Kee of BN, Eugene Chua Meng Chong (Bersama) and Amir Syafiq Ameer Soekre of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) retained the traditional PH seat with a majority of 15,280 votes.

The 34 women candidates accounted for nearly 20 per cent of the field compared with 138 male candidates.

BN won 48 of the 56 seats contested in the polls, with the remaning eight going to PH.