KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan candidate Kerk Chee Yee, 34, emerged as the youngest winner in the 16th Melaka election, while Chief Minister-elect Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh, 65, was the oldest.
Kerk polled 14,078 votes in a four-cornered contest for the Ayer Keroh state seat, defeating Perikatan Nasional candidate Gan Peng Lam (8,474 votes), Muhammad Muhaimin Lau Abdullah of Bersama (1,932 votes) and Mohd Hamnaim Mohamad of Bersatu (1,077 votes).
Kerk, who has held the seat for two terms, won with a majority of 5,604 votes.
Ayer Keroh, which has 38,252 registered voters, is one of four state constituencies under the Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary constituency.
Meanwhile, Rauf retained the Tanjung Bidara seat after securing 10,079 votes to defeat PH candidate Mohd Yunazri Mustamiri, who received 1,464 votes in a straight fight.
The Melaka Barisan Narional chairman won with a majority of 8,615 votes, up from 364 in the 2021 state election.
Meanwhile, only four of the 14 women candidates who contested the election won their seats, comprising three from BN and one from PH.
The BN winners were Tuminah Kadi @ Mohd Hashim in Pantai Kundor, Siti Aisyah Mahmood in Pengkalan Batu and Khaidhirah Abu Zahar in Rim.
Tuminah defeated Bersatu candidate Asmah Samat with a majority of 2,752 votes, polling 8,864 against her rival’s 6,112.
Siti Aisyah, the sole female candidate in Pengkalan Batu, won a four-cornered contest with a majority of 6,358 votes.
She defeated PH’s Jason Tze-xi Nathan (5,478 votes), Bersatu’s Norhizam Hassan Baktee (876 votes) and Bersama’s Goh Han Koon (618 votes).
Rim incumbent Khaidhirah polled 9,847 votes to defeat PH’s Esma Eazreen Husin, who received 2,757 votes, with a majority of 7,090.
PH candidate Leng Chau Yen retained the Bandar Hilir seat after polling 9,942 votes, defeating BN’s Lok Huey Yee (2,085 votes) and Mohd Nor Rashidi Ab. Jalil (1,315 votes) with a majority of 7,857.
BN won 21 of the 28 seats in the election to secure a two-thirds majority, while PH retained four seats and PN won three.