BN wins both Batu Sapi, Galas

Polling: 8am to 5pm
Vote count: 5pm onwards
Results: By 8pm
Photo galleries: Batu Sapi l Galas

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7.50pm: Unofficial results (Batu Sapi)

Linda Tsen (BN-PBS) - 8,538
Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) - 2,007
Ansari Abdullah (PKR) - 3,281
Majority - 5,257

Quick analysis: The result of this by-election reflect that of the 2008 general election. In 2008, Tsen's late husband Edmund Chong bagged 9,479 votes against his opponent, Independent Chong Kwong Ming's 5,771. In this by-election, the combined opposition has 5,288 votes.

7.43pm: Unofficial results (Batu Sapi)

Linda Tsen (BN-PBS) - 5,084
Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) - 1,250
Ansari Abdullah (PKR) - 2,022
Majority - 3,062

Quick analysis: While Linda Tsen's victory is expected, PKR has shown that it can get more votes than SAPP in Batu Sapi. However, even if this was a straight fight, the opposition will still lose.

7.28pm: Batu MP Tian Chua concedes defeat in Galas. "Comrades, let's work harder & be ready for GE13," he says. 

Unofficial results (Galas)

Dr Zulkefli Mohamad (PAS) - 4,108
Abdul Aziz Yusof (BN-Umno) - 5,177
Majority - 1,069

7.25pm: (Galas) At the PAS operation centre, the projector showing the results which was temporary turned on, is now turned off. The rain is getting heavier. Many supporters are leaving disappointed.

7.12pm: (Galas) About 100 supporters have gathered and patiently waiting for the unofficial results at the PAS operations centre. The party had prepared a projector outside to run live updates starting 5.30pm, but it is not activate it.

Instead, three DAP reps are called upon to check the results. The media are kept out of the office. As it starts to drizzle, the supporters look disappointed, and one says, “Tuhan pun menangis.”

7.05pm: (Batu Sapi) Victorious BN candidate Linda Tsen arrives at the Sabah chief minister's guesthouse. She is greeted with a rousing and thunderous applause from the crowd.

There is a big screen TV showing the results from the polling stations. Each time BN wins, the crowd roars noisily. Chief Minister Musa Aman has a meal before going to main tally centre in the Sandakan community hall for the final count.

BN leaders are congregating at Musa's guesthouse, and the mood is cautiously jubilant.

Meanwhile, at the PKR operations centre has about 20 party workers looking downcast because of the poor showing, with no party leaders in sight.

7.03pm: Unofficial results (Galas)

Dr Zulkefli Mohamad (PAS) - 2,348
Abdul Aziz Yusof (BN-Umno) - 3,258
Majority - 910

Quick analysis: BN appears to win back Chinese votes which they had lost in the 2008 general election.

For example, PAS lost in Kampung Baru by 41 votes, a Chinese-majority area which they won with 200-plus votes in 2008.

PAS initially aimed to win Kampung Baru with a bigger majority so that they can cover an expected defeat in Pulai, another Chinese-majority area.

Galas has two Chinese-majority areas, in which Pulai is considered a BN stronghold. PAS lost by 25 votes in Pulai in 2008.

7.01pm: Unofficial results (Galas)

Dr Zulkefli Mohamad (PAS) - 2,270
Abdul Aziz Yusof (BN-Umno) - 2,834
Majority - 564

7pm: Unofficial results (Batu Sapi)

Linda Tsen (BN-PBS) - 5,051
Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) - 1,018
Ansari Abdullah (PKR) - 1,709
Majority - 3,342

It is almost certain that Linda Tsen from BN-PBS has won the Batu Sapi parliamentary seat.

6.55pm: PKR's Batu Sapi candidate Ansari Abdullah arrives at the counting centre at the Sandakan community hall with a small entourage.

SAPP president and candidate Yong Teck Lee for this contest arrive a few minutes later, ahead of a batch of EC officials bringing the ballot boxes from the 12 polling stations in Batu Sapi.

BN candidate Linda Tsen Thau Lin on the other hand has gone to Chief Minister Musa Aman's residence at Sri Libaran to join Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as they wait for the results to be announced.

6.52pm: Unofficial results (Galas)

Postal votes

Dr Zulkefli Mohamad (PAS) - 46
Abdul Aziz Yusof (BN-Umno) - 107
Majority - 61

6.51pm: Unofficial results (Galas)

Dr Zulkefli Mohamad (PAS) - 1,158
Abdul Aziz Yusof (BN-Umno) - 1,254
Majority - 96

6.48pm: Unofficial results (Galas)

Dr Zulkefli Mohamad (PAS) - 982
Abdul Aziz Yusof (BN-Umno) - 1,035
Majority - 53

6.44pm: Unofficial results (Batu Sapi)

Linda Tsen (BN-PBS) - 3,226
Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) - 814
Ansari Abdullah (PKR) - 1,269
Spoilt votes - 420
Majority -1,957

6.40pm: Unofficial results (Batu Sapi)

Linda Tsen (BN-PBS) - 2,614
Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) - 622
Ansari Abdullah (PKR) - 931
Spoilt votes - 410
Majority -1,683

6.39pm: Unofficial results (Galas)

Bdr Lama:

Dr Zulkefli Mohamad (PAS) - 584
Abdul Aziz Yusof (BN-Umno) - 624
Majority - 40

6.34pm: Unofficial results (Batu Sapi)

Linda Tsen (BN-PBS) - 1,496
Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) - 422
Ansari Abdullah (PKR) - 752
Spoilt votes - 394
Majority - 740

6.21pm: Unofficial results (Batu Sapi)

Tally from the first two saluran:

Linda Tsen (BN-PBS) - 266
Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) - 94
Ansari Abdullah (PKR) - 177
Majority - 89

6pm: (Galas) EC deputy chair Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said that the Galas by-election official results are expected before 8pm tonight.

Speaking at a press conference at the Gua Musang Civic Hall, he ventures that the voter turnout could be as high as 82%. He is basing this on the current figure of 78% that excludes the total from four Orang Asli ballot boxes, that are expected to arrive at around 6.30.

5.45pm: (Batu Sapi) The Election Commission announces that the voters turnout for this parliamentary seat is 61.47 percent, or 15,774 voters.

This is slightly higher that the turnout in the 2008 general election which was 61.45 percent.

5.28pm: Unofficial results (Batu Sapi)

Tronglit (Muslim bumiputera majority polling station), which ended polling at 3pm:

Saluran 1:
Linda Tsen (BN-PBS) - 153
Yong Teck Lee (SAPP) - 14
Ansari Abdullah (PKR) - 4

5.25pm: (Galas) The EC announces that the voters turnout is 77.73 percent or 8,980 voters. This does not include the turnout in three Orang Asli areas - Pos Belatim, Pos Balar and Pos Bihar.

5.15pm: (Batu Sapi) It appears that the Batu Sapi by-election has failed to spark much excitement among the 25,000-odd voters in this vast parliamentary constituency today.

Unlike the major altercations that happened in Galas, Kelantan which is holding a concurrent by-election, the situation in Batu Sapi is laid back, save for patches of traffic jams along its main thoroughfare, Jalan Batu Sapi.

Being a working day, the voter turnout is at a low 60 percent.

The situation was also not helped by sporadic rain hitting parts of Batu Sapi, as storm clouds loom in the distance with the constant threat of a downpour.

The response is so sluggish that it became a point of concern for Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who pointed out that in most cases, the voters turnout would normally hit past 50 percent by 2pm.

He however avoided giving any indication of how it will effect the outcome of the by-election.

"We pray to God, that after nearly 10 days of campaigning, we hope the result will be in our favour... We will have to just wait till 8pm," he said, referring to the estimated time the results will be out.

On the other hand, the voters's response in Galas is a little more enthusiastic, with a turnout of close to 80 percent.

However, allegations of vote-buying and violence where an Umno Puteri member had to seek treatment in Gua Musang hospital have marred the by-election in this keenly-fought state seat.