Trivia from the 2008 polls

Barisan Nasional only gained about 51 percent of the popular vote from the 7.9 million ballots cast on Saturday.

However, it took 63 percent of the seats contested - or 140 of 222 seats in Parliament.

Interestingly, its peninsula-wide popular vote was only 49.79 per cent, which effectively means that the opposition received the majority vote.

When converted to parliamentary seats, BN won 85 of the constituencies in the peninsula, while the opposition won in 80.

In 2004, BN won about 64 percent of the popular vote nationwide and 92 percent of the 219 parliamentary seats on offer then.

As the dust settles on the 12th general election, we highlight more quirky facts and figures.

Election trivia

• The youngest candidate was PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who is 26. He defeated Seri Setia incumbent Seripa Noli Syed Hussin.
The oldest candidate was grandma Maimun Yusuf, 89, who contested in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat.

• 56 also-rans from opposition parties and independent candidates lost their deposits after failing to secure one-eighth of the votes cast.

• The largest majority was won by DAP’s Teresa Kok against BN’s Carol Chew, by 36,492 votes in the Seputeh parliamentary seat in Kuala Lumpur.
The smallest majority was just 14 votes for BN’s Hamdi Abu Bakar who beat Abu Bakar Haji Hussain of PAS in the Pengkalan Baharu state seat in Perak.

• Four pivotal players in the Lingam tape scandal also won: Loh Gwo Burne (who recorded the footage), Wee Choo Keong (lawyer who represented VK Lingam’s brother during the inquiry) and R Sivarasa and Sim Tze Tzin (listed as witnesses but eventually not called). All four are from PKR.

• There will be two ‘lone rangers’ in Parliament: Zulhasnan Rafique, the sole BN survivor in Kuala Lumpur’s 11 parliamentary seats - he took Setiawangsa; and DAP’s Chong Chieng Jen who won Bandar Kuching in Sarawak - the remaining 30 parliamentary seats went to BN.

• The biggest number of candidates was in the Sukau state seat, Sabah, where eight candidates ran, including five Independents.

Debutant politicians

Prominent blogger Jeff Ooi - whose campaign was done online and funds were raised through his website - won the Jelutong parliamentary seat in Penang for DAP. Other bloggers are Tony Pua (DAP, Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary seat), Elizabeth Wong (PKR, Bukit Lanjan state seat) and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PKR, Seri Setia state seat).

Civil society activists who succeeded were Charles Santiago (DAP, water-privatisation issues), Edward Lee (DAP, local community), Elizabeth Wong and R Sivarasa (PKR, human rights).

Biggest blows

The losses in BN component parties will result in vacancies in various ministries, forcing a cabinet reshuffle.

Ministers:
S Samy Vellu (works ministry)
Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (women, family and community development ministry)
Zainuddin Maidin ( information ministry)
Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin (rural and territory development ministry)

Deputy ministers:
Chia Kwang Chye (information ministry)
G Palanivel (women, family and community development)
Tan Chai Ho (home ministry)
V Veerasingam (domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry)
Sothinathan (natural resources and environment ministry)
Donald Lim (tourism ministry)Fu Ah Kiow (internal security ministry)
M Kayveas (Prime Minister’s Department)

Parliamentary secretaries:
Chew Mei Fun (women, family and community development ministry)
P Komala Devi (education ministry)
Lee Kah Choon (health ministry)
Ng Lip Yong (plantation industries and commodities ministry)
S Vigneswaran (youth and sports ministry)
Rahman Ibrahim (home ministry)
Dr Mohd Ruddin Ab Ghani (science, technology and innovation ministry)
Yew Teong Look (federal territories ministry)