Azmin's victory in Hulu Kelang shows no BN vote transferred to PH, says Khairy

Former Umno man Khairy Jamaluddin said Pakatan Harapan (PH) did not get any benefit from its alliance with Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Hulu Kelang state legislative assembly seat, the main focus of the state elections, which saw former menteri besar Mohamed Azmin Ali make a comeback after his shocking defeat in the polls last year.

Khairy said that the seat was a "case study" for analysing vote transferability from BN to PH.

He said a comparison of the number of votes obtained by Azmin and PH candidate Juwairiya Zulkifli to the vote count in the 14th general election showed the support for PH voters has remained consistent, without any votes added from Umno.

In 2018, PH secured the seat with approximately 25,000 votes, whereas BN received around 10,000 votes, and PAS managed to secure approximately 7,000 votes.

Azmin received 25,597 votes today, while Juwairiya received 23,980 votes.

"So how do you explain the remainders?" Khairy asked during a live commentary on the elections by Astro Awani.

"All of those went to Azmin."

The Hulu Kelang seat became the central focus from nomination day onward, with top leaders from each coalition attending campaign events to support the candidates.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, both leaders of the PH and BN coalitions, respectively, had also several times addressed mega ceramahs in the constituency.

When asked whether an increase in the number of voters played a part this time, Khairy said PH did not receive any voter segment transfers, including support from BN, PN, or new registrants.

"It's likely that (BN's) Hulu Kelang voters gave their votes to Azmin," Khairy said.